


Cross That Line

by Cynder2013



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drowning, F/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Permanent Injury, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 38,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24310507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynder2013/pseuds/Cynder2013
Summary: When a murder attempt sends Shmi Sparks to a galaxy far far away just in time for the beginning of the Clone War she has to figure out what to do with all the information she has. Taking the side of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, will she be able to end the war and prevent the rise of Darth Vader or will her appearance hasten the Galaxy's fall to the Dark Side?(Originally written in 2015.)
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker/Original Female Character(s), Cliegg Lars/Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Siri Tachi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

She would not be going to Mars. That was Anne’s one thought when she registered that her brother had thrown her over the side of the _Maid of the Mist_ boat. The tour only supplied plastic ponchos, not life jackets, and with her jeans dragging her down it would be impossible for her to swim in the fast moving river. She didn’t think _that_ though, she was trying to swim, not processing that it was useless. Her anger at her brother was enough to keep her afloat for a few moments as the river washed her away from the boat. Then a wave of the freeze water washed over her head. The thundering of the falls was blocked out by the water surrounding her. It only took a few seconds before her lungs began to fill and the world went black.

It was a pity. She had been looking forward to going to a new planet.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan, went to stand beside Padmé Amidala, Senator of Naboo. They both looked over the water. “It’s very beautiful here,” Anakin said. He turned his head and looked at Padmé .

“We used to come here when I was a girl,” the woman reminisced. “We would swim to that island over there and then lie out on the beach and let the sun dry us.” She sighed. “We were all so carefree then.”

“Well-” Anakin stopped. The Force was nudging him, wanting him to turn away and look out onto the lake. He turned and saw a large rippling that couldn’t have been caused by any of the creatures that usually ventured to the surface of the lakes.

“Anakin?” Padmé looked too. “What is it?”

The Force quivered with urgency. Anakin grabbed his A99 from his pocket and threw off his robes. “There’s someone out there.” The boat had already left so there was no choice as to what he would do. He kicked off his shoes and dove into the lake. His feet and hands beat the water, propelling him forwards as fast as possible.

Padmé followed the trial of bubbles left by Anakin as he swam to the disturbance. Moments after he reached it he broke through the surface dragging another being with him. With speed that could only have come from the aid of the Force he swam back to the steps where Padmé helped him pull the being, a dark-haired Human woman, out of the water.

Anakin raised his hand. Using the Force he pulled all of the water out of the woman’s lungs. Padmé sighed with relief when the woman began breathing. “Where did she come from?”

“I don’t know.” Anakin frowned. The woman was wearing strange clothes that he didn’t recognize from any planet he’d ever been to, heavy blue pants, a tight black shirt with no sleeves, and brightly-coloured shoes that looked like they belonged to an astromech droid. She could be a Separatist or one of the beings trying to kill Padmé but with her unconscious it was impossible to tell. “I’m going to wake her up.” He looked up at Padmé, who looked back to the woman before nodding. “Be ready for anything.”

He nudged the woman through the Force, softly at first and then harder when she didn’t respond. After the second prod the woman gasped and her eyes flew open. Her throat convulsed like she was trying to cough.

“Are you alright?” Padmé asked. “Can you understand me?”

The woman blinked. “Am I dead?”

“No, you’re not dead.” Anakin drawled. “We just pulled you out of the lake.” The woman blinked again. She began to sit up but was stopped by the appearance of Anakin’s lightsaber at her throat. Padmé looked at him disapprovingly. “Who are you?”

The woman froze, looking at the glowing green blade with her eyes nearly crossing. “I…I…Anne.”

Anakin’s grip on his lightsaber tightened. “You’re lying.”

“No! I... My first name is Shmi, Shmi-Anne Sparks!” Anakin’s eyes widened.

“Are you from Stewjon?” Padmé asked, knowing that many Humans from that planet had compound first names. Shmi-Anne shook her head as best as she could with Anakin’s lightsaber still in such close proximity.

“Shmi is my mother’s name.” Anakin’s voice shook, and so did his hands. Padmé reached over and carefully extracted his lightsaber from his grip so that he wouldn’t accidently cut off Shmi-Anne’s head. Anakin wisely put up no resistance.

Shmi-Anne looked between Anakin and Padmé, her face slack. “Who are you?”

“This is Anakin,” Padmé said after a moment of thought. “I’m Padmé .”

Shmi-Anne paled. “Not Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, right?” she asked slowly. “Because they aren’t real.”

“We’re real!” Anakin exclaimed. “Why would we not be real?” Padmé give him a look that was clearly telling him to be quiet so he bit back the rest of the questions he wanted to shout out. 

“Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala,” Padmé said.

Shmi-Anne pulled her knees to her chin and put her face in her hands for a count of three. Then she asked, “Where are we?”

“Naboo,” Padmé answered softly. “In the Lake Country.”

Shmi-Anne looked at Anakin, studying his hands. Then she looked at Padmé , who was kneeling beside her. “You’re the Senator of Naboo and you just escaped two assassination attempts. You came here on a refugee transport.”

Padmé gaped. “How do you—?”

Shmi-Anne turned to Anakin. “You built a protocol droid called C-3PO for your mother but you had to leave him behind when you went to Coruscant. You’re a Jedi Padawan and your Master would have been Qui-Gon Jinn if he hadn’t been killed.”

“How do you know that?” Padmé asked.

Shmi-Anne bit her lip. “So you are real. On my planet…you aren’t.”

“What do you mean by that?” Anakin asked, making a face.

“Where I’m from you only exist in what you would call a holofilm series. Nearly everyone knows about you. My parents love _Star Wars_ , that’s what the series is called.” She looked at Anakin. “They named me after your mother.” Shmi-Anne shivered. “Maybe I’ve just gone crazy.”

Anakin looked at Shmi-Anne. “You haven’t gone crazy. You’re telling the truth.”

“I have a lot to tell you. If we could fix everything—” She was interrupted by her own sneezing. Padmé handed back Anakin’s lightsaber and he absentmindedly thumbed the switch to turn it off.

“Let’s get both of you into dry clothes,” Padmé said. “Then we’ll talk.”


	2. Chapter 2

_Star Wars_ was real and she wasn’t dead. Or she was still in the process of dying and this was some elaborate hallucination created by her brain as it ran out of oxygen.

The first option was more likely.

Anne let Padmé help her up and they began walking up the stairs to a building that Anne definitely recognized from _Attack of the Clones._ Anakin let out a yelp when their backs were to him and then turned around to find him rubbing his shoulder. “I’m fine,” he said quickly. “I just pulled something.”

“Of course you did,” Padmé said with a quirk of her mouth.

Once they had found something in Padmé ’s wardrobe that would actually fit her, Anne went to the washroom, the ‘fresher, to change while Padmé , having nothing else to do, made a pot of tea and set out dishes and fruit on the dining table like she used to for her mother when she was little.

Anakin finished changing first. He came into the room with his hair still wet and his robe hanging over his arm. “Do you think we can trust her?”

Padmé leaned against the back of a chair. “I think so. You did say she was telling the truth.”

“Being truthful isn’t the same as being trustworthy.” Anakin walked around the table. “She has a tattoo of the symbol of the Jedi Order.”

“It was probably in the holofilms.”

“True…” Anakin continued pacing in a circle. The Force wasn’t telling him anything about the woman, only a faint feeling that they should listen to her. He went for another circuit of the table and almost ran into Padmé.

“Sit down, Ani.”

Anakin sat.

After they had waited for a while Shmi-Anne finally came into the room from the opposite direction she should have. “Where were you?” Anakin asked.

“I got lost.” She sat down beside Padmé, the dress she was wearing swishing around her ankles. The dress actually had a train but Anne was so much taller than Padmé that it was rendered nonexistent.

“So, tell us about these holofilms.” Padmé put down her cup of tea.

“I don’t think I can tell you very much,” Anne admitted. “It could destroy the space-time continuum or something.” 

“The what?” Anakin asked.

Shmi-Anne blushed. “Something we talk about on my planet, in my Galaxy since we’re colonizing Mars…” Anakin blinked at her. “Moving on.” Anne picked up the cup of tea that Padmé pushed towards her. “There are six films. Three of them are about you and three of them are about people who could be born in a few years.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “‘Could be’? Is this Master Yoda’s ‘always changing, the future is’ thing?” Shmi-Anne bit her lip and nodded. “Well, why wouldn’t they be born?” 

“It depends on you.” Her eyes flicked between Anakin and Padmé. “Both of you.”

Padmé’s eyes widened. “They’re not our children, are they?” Shmi-Anne nodded. “But that’s not possible! Anakin’s a Jedi.”

“Master Obi-Wan would kill me.” Anakin agreed as he stared longingly at Padmé while she wasn’t looking at him.

“Actually, he wouldn’t.” Anne put her tea down and picked it back up. “He thinks of you as his brother. _In the films_ even when you fall to the Dark Side he isn’t able to kill you, Vader. Darth Vader isn’t you,” she said quickly when Anakin began to turn pale. Okay, telling him that he turned to the Dark Side had _not_ been a good idea, unless it scared him into not falling. “It’s not your fault, not really. You wanted to protect Padmé.”

“Why?” Anakin asked hoarsely.

“I can’t tell you that.”

Anakin grimaced. “Why?”

Anne gestured wildly while she tried to explain. “Now that you know about Vader I’m hoping that it won’t be necessary because no Jedi really wants to fall, right?” She gave a strained smile. It was horrible logic.

Anakin stared. “That is terrible logic.”

“Things can change now,” Anne said. “Maybe things are already different. You two haven’t kissed, right?” 

Padmé looked horrified. “Of course not!”

Anne sat back. “See?” 

They sat sipping their tea in silence for a few moments. Anakin’s mind was turning in circles trying to understand what they had just been told. On a planet in another Galaxy someone had made a holofilm that predicted his fall to the Dark Side. This woman had come here from that planet and was trying to stop him from falling, but she wouldn’t tell them everything she knew.

“There are words around the symbol of the Order,” he said suddenly. “The one on your back. What do they say?”

Shmi-Anne looked surprised. “They’re in Aurebesh.”

“I was too far away to read them.”

Anne looked at him. There was nothing on his face that said he was lying. “They’re a quote from one of the films. ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try.’”

Anakin raised both eyebrows and crossed his arms loosely. “That sounds like Master Yoda.”

“That’s because it is.”

They would have begun staring each other down if Padmé hadn’t interrupted. “What will you do now, Shmi-Anne?”

“Just Anne, please.” Anne looked down into her empty tea cup. “I don’t know. I have no idea how to get home and I want to help you, if you’ll let me. Do you know of somewhere I could stay where the owners don’t ask too many questions? Or want money.”

“You can stay here,” Padmé suggested. “There’s plenty of space.” Anne looked up at her. The Senator smiled.

“Thank you, Senator.” She looked at Anakin. “If you don’t mind.” 

Anakin shrugged. “There is plenty of space, and I’d like to know more about these holofilms.”

Anne smiled slightly. “I’ll figure out what I can tell you.”

Anakin nodded. “What about your other tattoo? Is that a symbol from the holoflims too?”

“That one is the Green Lantern Corps symbol.”

“Who are they?” Padmé asked. “I’ve never heard of any Green Lantern Corps.”

Anne grimaced. Explaining the _Star Wars_ series was one thing, but explaining the DC universe? “It’s a very long story. Maybe I’ll tell you some time.” Maybe. 

* * *

The sun warmed Anne’s face as she lay out on the grass. It really was a beautiful day. Padmé had declared that as soon as she saw the sun rising that morning and had insisted that they have a picnic on one of the islands. Padmé and Anakin were sitting on the blanket. Through the rustling grasses, Anne could just hear them having their discussion about how the Galaxy should be run. She shook her head with a smile. Some things would never change.

“Democracy works best,” she inputted during a break in the conversation. “Compared with a dictatorship.”

Anakin paused in the middle of preparing his next argument. “Was that what Vader made the Galaxy?”

Anne rolled over so that she could look at Anakin. His face was pinched, like it always became when they talked about Vader. “He made it possible, but he wasn’t in charge.”

Padmé squeezed Anakin’s hand. “Don’t worry, Ani. It won’t happen now.”

“I hope not.” Anakin stood abruptly. “Let’s go for a walk.”

The two women lagged behind Anakin as his walk gradually turned into run. When he barrelled down a hill and disappeared from view the two of them looked at each other and began sprinting to catch up with him. Padmé laughed with pure joy as the wind tore through her hair and send her skirt swirling around her.

They reached the crest of the hill just in time to see Anakin vaulting onto the back of one of the creatures grazing in the valley. The creature began bucking wildly, trying to throw him off. As the creature turned, Anakin waved at them with one hand. The wide grin he had on his face sent Anne into fits of giggles. “That man is insane.”

Padmé laughed as well but quickly became concerned when the creature finally succeeded in tossing Anakin off its back. She ran towards him, causing the other creatures to scatter. She ran so fast that Anne couldn’t keep up with her. The creature that Anakin had been riding kicked up its heels and bolted with the rest of the herd.

Padmé kneeled down beside Anakin, who was lying absolutely still on the grass. “Ani?” Anakin didn’t move. Anne hurried towards them as Padmé leaned over him to check for a pulse. Then Anakin sprung up and rolled over and over in the grass, taking Padmé with him. Anne didn’t stop in time to avoid tripping over them and they all ended up on the group in a heap. Anakin was laughing and Padmé was hitting him in the face with the sleeve of her dress. Anne was laughing so hard that she was gasping for air.

“Never change, Skywalker,” she gasped when the laughter died down. “Never change.”


	3. Chapter 3

Hearing screaming in the dead of night was not pleasant. It woke Anne up and for a few moments she was frozen in her bed, staring through the starlight coming in through the window. By the time she had pulled on her shoes and thrown on a robe the screaming had stopped. Footsteps sounded, going past her door and towards one of the house’s balconies.

Anne found Anakin staring out onto the lakes, gripping the railing, his eyes bloodshot. He made a small movement when Anne came to stand beside him but other than that he didn’t acknowledge her appearance.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Anne asked softly. Anakin nodded. “About your mother?” Anakin didn’t even look surprised, he just nodded again.

“She’s in danger,” he said hoarsely. “I saw it. Obi-Wan said they’re just dreams but they seem so…real.”

“You should go see her,” Anne said. Anakin turned his head and looked at her. “Make sure that she’s alright.”

“I’m supposed to protect Padmé,” Anakin said.

“You can do that just as well on Tatooine as here.” Anne tilted her head. “Go back to sleep. Ask her in the morning.”

“I…think I will.” Anakin turned back to the view of the lakes. He spoke again after a moment. “Anne, who _are_ the Green Lanterns?”

Anne elbowed him. “Go back to sleep.”

“Fine,” Anakin sighed. “Whatever you say, Master.”

“I am nothing like Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

* * *

“I think it’s a good idea.” Padmé cut a slice from her piece of fruit. “We can have a ship ready in less than an hour.”

“You don’t mind going to Tatooine?” Anakin’s knife and fork paused again on their parsecs long journey to his plate. “It will be very hot.”

“I’ve been to Tatooine before, Ani, remember?” She smiled at him with one eyebrow raised. “Your mother is a wonderful woman. Having to endure a little heat is a small price to pay to make sure she’s safe.”

Anakin finally got started on his breakfast. “Then we’ll leave in an hour.” The two of them looked at Anne, who was arranging her fruit slices into a flower.

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind,” Anne said. “I’d rather be there if you get into trouble then hear about it on the holonews.”

“We won’t get into trouble,” Anakin said.

“You’re a Skywalker, that’s a synonym for trouble.”

Anakin looked at Padmé for support but the Senator just shrugged. “She’s not wrong.”

The trip to Tatooine was very interesting for Anne. She had never been in a spaceship before, only a training simulator and that was very different from the cockpit of the sleek Naboo ship. Anakin noticed her studying the controls and ended up spending a quarter of the journey teaching her to fly the ship and another quarter worrying that her flying was going to put them into an asteroid.

“If you doubt your teaching methods so much then you shouldn’t have let me fly,” Anne said.

R2-D2 was in agreement with Anakin, if the yelling sounds he was making were any indication. For the astromech droid’s sake Anne handed the controls over to Anakin for the last leg of the journey. 

When they landed on the desert planet they got a ride into the town and Anakin began searching for Watto’s shop. Anne didn’t want to tell him that his mother had been sold because there was a chance that that hadn’t actually happened. She couldn’t know if or what had changed because she was there aside from the fact that Anakin and Padmé didn’t seem to be heading towards eloping. Other things had to have changed, according to a physics book she had read once.

Shmi Skywalker _had_ married Cliegg Lars but that had happened only a few years previous. Watto hadn’t needed to sell her because he hadn’t gone into debt, but she had been freed by his daughter when she inherited all his property after he died. The bad thing about that was that it took them a long time to find out where she was because they didn’t have Watto to ask. Eventually Anakin found one of his old friends and was able to get information from him before his owner chased them away.

The suns were low in the sky by the time they arrived at the Lars homestead. Three men were limping towards the white entrance, carrying another man between them. One of the men had his hand clamped over the shredded remains of the leg of the man being carried. Anakin ran towards the group. He said something unrepeatable in Huttese and grabbed a corner of the blanket that the man was being carried on. The other injured men didn’t say anything to the stranger, they saw his lightsaber when he ran towards them and knew that he was a Jedi.

Padmé and Anne followed the men as they entered the house. R2-D2 trundled behind them and then got held up by the stairs. A protocol droid carrying a box of metal parts dropped it with a clatter when it saw them. “Oh my word! Young master! Young master! Your father is hurt!”

There was a cracking sound and a young man ran out of the kitchen with one half of a broken spoon in his hand. “Father!” R2-D2 burbled sympathetically. 

When the unconscious man was laid down on a makeshift couch that the droid had put together, Anne knelt down beside his leg and put more pressure on the dressing that had already been put in place, disrupting the man’s son, who had been moving to do the same. “Is there any clean cloth?” 

“Who are you?” the young man exclaimed, looking from the brown-skinned woman to the two other strangers in the room.

“If you’re Owen Lars then that’s your stepbrother, Anakin Skywalker,” Anne replied without looking up. “Cloths, bandages, anyone? And a needle and thread. A sewing needle. Do you have those here?”

Anakin looked at the young man. “Are you Owen Lars?”

“Yes.” Owen looked from Anakin to his father. “That’s my father, Cliegg. I’ll ask Beru if she has sewing things.” He ran back into the bowls of the house.

“Can’t you heal him?” one of the men asked Anakin. “You’re a Jedi.”

“I can try,” Anakin said with a wince. Force healing was not one of his strong points, as the Healers always complained when he dragged Obi-Wan down to them after yet another injury. “But I might just make things worse.”

“I can handle it,” Anne promised. “Whoever was stopping the bleeding did a good job.”

Owen returned, following Beru as she entered with a box and a candle. She and Anne went to work sewing up the stump of Cliegg’s leg while Padmé took the bandages that she had brought and went around helping the other injured men.

“Oh my, it’s the Maker!” The protocol droid finally got a look at Anakin’s face when it entered the room carrying a tray of drinks. “Welcome back, Maker!”

Anakin looked at the droid and a look of realization crept over his face.“Threepio?”

The droid shuffled forwards. “May I say that it is lovely to see you again?”

Owen looked between Anakin and See-Threepio. “You really are Shmi’s son.”

“Of course his is, young master.” Threepio sounded annoyed. “He built me.”

“What happened, Owen?” Anakin asked.

Owen sighed. “Shmi was taken by Tusken Raiders yesterday morning. My father took thirty men to get her back but…” He looked at the four men who had returned.

Anakin’s face flushed and he jumped up from where he had been sitting beside his stepbrother. “Where did they go?”

“West,” one of the men said, shifting the cloth he was holding over one eye. “You aren’t thinking of going after them, are you? That’s suicide.”

“They have my mother.” Anakin prepared to march out of the house but turned around when Anne called his name.

“No killing,” she said, finishing another stich. “Do whatever you have to do to get your mother back, just promise you won’t kill if you can help it.”

“I’m a Jedi.”

Anne looked up and stared straight into his eyes. “Promise.”

Anakin stood in silence for a moment. “I promise.” Then he marched out of the house with his cloak swirling behind him.

It was long past nightfall when Anakin got back. Everyone in the house had gone to sleep except for Owen, who was sitting up beside his father, and Padmé and Anne, who were waiting for Anakin to return.

“He’s coming,” Anne murmured, leaning away from the wall and planning to stand up.

“How do you know?” Padmé asked. “I don’t hear the speeder.”

“I—” The noise from the speeder’s engine sounded above them and stopped at the entrance to the house. Feet thudded on the stairs and Anakin emerged, carrying a long bundle in his arms. Anne’s heart dropped into her stomach and when Owen appeared in a doorway his face fell.

“It’s fine,” Anakin said quietly, “She fell asleep after we passed the vaporators.”

Padmé wafted towards them. “She’s not hurt?”

Anakin shook his head. “Not much. A few cuts and some bruises, nothing life-threatening.”

Anne nodded. “Good.” She hadn’t been tortured then, at least not as badly as she had been in the movie. She would live, that was one important thing. The other one though would be awkward to ask. 

Anakin followed Owen to put his mother to bed, but before he did he spoke to Anne. Her thoughts were portrayed clearly to him through the Force. “I didn’t kill any of them.”

Anne nodded again. “Good.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Anne woke up far too early considering the time that she had gotten to sleep. She had been so exhausted that she had fallen asleep in her clothes so she just had to re-do her ponytail before quietly leaving the room that she and Padmé were sharing.

“Good morning,” C-3PO said when he saw her. “I did not properly introduce myself last night. I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations.”

“I’m Anne Sparks.” Since she was talking to C-3PO, Anne decided to ask him a question that she had never been able to figure out the answer to. “Why is it human-cyborg relations? Cyborgs are humans, they just have mechanical enhancements.”

“Oh.” The light from C-3PO’s eyes flickered. “I must admit that I do not know. It’s part of my programming.”

“Oh. Thank you 3PO.”

“You are most welcome. May I help you with anything else?”

“Is anyone else awake?” Anne asked.

C-3PO nodded jerkily. “Young mistress Beru is currently in the kitchen.”

Beru had her back to the door and was working at the stove when Anne got to the kitchen. Anne knocked lightly on the wall by the door opening and the other woman turned around. “Do you need any help?”

Beru rolled up her sleeves where they were beginning to fall over her elbows. “Yes please. Normally Shmi and I would make breakfast together but…”

Anne nodded. “Just tell me what to do.”

They worked in silence for a while before Beru asked, “Are you a Jedi?”

Anne nearly dropped the jug she was holding. “No. Why would you think that?”

“You’re dressed like one.” Beru gestured at Anne’s robe with the spoon she had been using to stir a pot of blue porridge-y stuff.

“Oh, this isn’t mine. There was an accident and now I don’t really have anything. Anakin lent me this because none of Padmé’s clothes fit.” Thankfully Beru didn’t ask what the accident had been. 

“Which star system are you from?” she asked instead.

Anne added a spoonful of grey powder from the tin Beru had given her to the jug. “Padmé and I are from Naboo. Anakin lives in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Have you always lived here?”

“All my life,” Beru said. “What’s Naboo like?”

Anne stirred the drink in the jug. “Where I live? Green. There’s a lot of water. Lakes, rivers. The Gungans have a city underwater.”

Beru took a stack of bowls out of a cupboard. “It sounds dangerous, having so much water lying around.”

Anne smiled. “Well I did nearly drown once, but it’s no more dangerous than living in a desert.”

By the time they were finished making breakfast, everyone else in the homestead had gotten up and gathered around the table except for Anakin and Owen, who were still sitting with their parents.

“I’ll bring them something,” Beru said, standing up with two filled bowls already in her hands.

“No, I’ll go.” Anne took the food from her. “You were up before all of us, Beru, sit down and relax.”

“She’s right, Beru,” one of the men said before she could protest. “You and Shmi are always on your feet. Take a break.” Beru reluctantly sat back down.

Anne carried the food out of the room and was glad that she was holding the bowls tightly when Owen turned the corner and nearly ran into her. The splitting smile on his face told her all she needed to know. “They’re awake?”

Owen nodded. “Yes, both of them.”

Anne smiled and put one of the bowls into his hands. “Good. Is Anakin still with them?” 

“Yes. I was just coming to tell everyone. I can bring him breakfast.”

Anne shook her head. “I’m already going. I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Alright,” Owen said.

Anne ducked into the kitchen to grab two more bowls of food. She dropped off one of them with Cliegg, who was sitting up and looked perfectly fine except for the fact that he was missing a leg, before heading down the hall to the room that Anakin had brought Shmi to the night before. Anakin was sitting beside the bed and his mother was sitting up against a stack of cushions. “Good morning.” Anakin looked up as Anne entered the room. “I brought you breakfast.”

“Thank you.” Anakin nodded. “Mom, this is Anne. Anne, this is my mom, Shmi.”

“Good morning, Shmi.” Anne smiled as she gave them the bowls of porridge. “You look better.”

Shmi smiled and despite her injures she looked beautiful in the dim light. “Only thanks to my son.” She took Anakin’s hand and smiled at him. “My boy has grown up.”

Anne quietly slipped out of the room. The two of them had ten years to catch up on, she wasn’t going to interrupt.

* * *

“We’re going to have to leave soon. Today.” Anakin tightened a bolt on the machine he was fixing. “We’ll get in trouble if the Council finds out we were here.”

“It’s only been two days,” Padmé pointed out. “Surly you can spend some more time with your family.”

Anakin snorted. “I would get into even more trouble for that. Jedi aren’t supposed to have outside attachments, Padmé.”

“You said if they find out. They don’t have to know.”

“I can’t lie to the Council, Padmé.” He put down the wrench. “And I’m surprised that you’re suggesting it. You’re a Senator. Shouldn’t you be following the rules?”

Padmé shook her head. “Well, some of your rules are a little bit much. How can you have no attachments? You have Obi-Wan.”

“He’s my Master.”

“You have me.”

“You’re my friend.”

Padmé raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that an attachment?”

“We can have friends,” Anakin protested, “But the Order is our family.” He picked up the wrench again and went to work on another bolt.

Padmé made a noncommittal sound and slid off of the work bench she had been sitting on. “I’ll go find Anne and tell her we’re leaving.”

Anakin nodded. “I think she’s checking on Cliegg.”

They had trouble pulling the Earthling nurse away from her patient, but when they managed that they just had to say goodbye to everyone and then they were on their way. Anakin’s mother insisted that they take C-3PO with them, despite the fact that the droid was one of the only things she had left of her son, and stood at the entrance to the homestead waving to them, to Anakin, until they were out of sight. R2-D2 was the first onto the ship. He made a noise that was like a sigh before plugging in and getting the ship warmed up. C-3PO clanked up the ramp and looked around. “Oh, this is a ship? How interesting.” 

Anakin went straight to the controls. There was no way he was going to risk having to let Anne fly again, not until she got more practice. He stopped behind the dividing line between the controls and the rest of the ship when he saw the holocom flicker to life. The blue image of Obi-Wan wobbled for a moment before settling.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “I need you to transmit this message to Coruscant.” Anakin fully entered the cockpit and flipped the switch that would cause the transmission to be made. Padmé and Anne came up behind him and all three of them settled in to listen to what Obi-Wan had to say.

“I have found Count Dooku on Geonosis. Jango Fett led me here. I need help to capture Dooku and the Separatists that could be with him. My location is—wait.” Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and began deflecting blaster bolts. He backed out of view and was replaced by a droideka before the image disappeared.

“Uh oh.” Padmé and Anakin looked at Anne, who had her eyes squeezed shut and was muttering under her breath. “This is early. Is it early? How many days are in a month?”

“Thirty-five,” Padmé said automatically. Anne opened her eyes.

“Did you know this was going to happen?” Anakin asked.

“Yes, but I thought it would be later,” Anne said. “You fly, I’ll talk. We have to get to Geonosis.”


	5. Chapter 5

Anakin took all the shortcuts he knew how to navigate and got them to Geonosis in record time. There almost wasn’t enough time for Anne to tell them about the insectoid Geonosians in the tunnels, the droid factory and, just in case they did still end up getting captured, the layout of the arena and the creatures they would probably have to deal with. All of the architecture she had seen so far was the same as the movies, so if Geonosis wasn’t the exception then they should be able to navigate without too much trouble. If Anne ever got back to Earth she swore that she would thank her parents for making them watch the _Star Wars_ movies so often that she had memorized them.

They landed in the vent because that was really the only place they could land without drawing attention and getting caught right away. Steam rose around them, raising the temperature of the ship by several degrees. As they left the ship Anne gestured for R2-D2 and C-3PO to follow them. “Are you sure we should not stay with the ship?” C-3PO asked.

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Come on, Threepio.” 

R2 opened a few doors for them and they made their way through tunnels and hallways with C-3PO worrying behind them. “Do you know where we are going?” he asked Anakin.

“I have an idea,” Anakin said as he peered around a corner. “He’s somewhere this way.”

“‘Let the Force guide you,’” Anne quoted. “Just please be careful for once in your life.”

“Not much of a chance of that.” Anakin turned and stopped at a metal door. “Let’s try this way. Artoo?” R2 beeped in acknowledgement and fiddled with the unlocking mechanism.

“Oh my!” C-3PO exclaimed. Anne looked over her shoulder and saw that he was looking down the tunnel at the chattering swarm of Geonosians that was coming towards them. Luckily there was a pillar of stone in the way so they hadn’t been seen yet.

Yet. “We’ve got company,” she warned.

“Come on, Artoo,” Anakin urged. R2 whistled. The door popped open and they tumbled through. Padmé pulled C-3PO with them just as the door snapped shut. Anakin looked around and his eyes widened. “I’m guessing this is your droid factory?” The clanking, smashing robotic arms and jerking vats of molten metal make Anne’s reply unnecessary.

“Oh my,” C-3PO said, using his scandalized voice rather than his “we’re all going to die” one. “Machines making machines, how uncivilized.” R2 beeped.

“So, where do we go from here?” Padmé asked. Anne pointed to the second door that was at the other end of the walkway they were standing on, all the way across the dangerous room and hidden by the droid bodies that were travelling in the conveyor belt in front of it. “That’s the only way out.”

Anakin pointed to a walkway below them. “Or we could jump to there. It would be faster.” Anne raised an eyebrow and tilted her head towards their droids.

“Let’s not,” Padmé agreed, and she started across the walkway.

They had to duck every time that they ended up under a conveyor belt that was carrying anything and Anakin had to grab C-3PO a few times when the droid lost his balance, but they got to the middle of the walkway before they ran into any real trouble. As C-3PO tripped over his own feet for the fourth time he grabbed on to a dangling droid body that was hanging above him. He stumbled back onto the walkway and ended up pulling the droid body off of its hook and dropping it into a box of completed battle droids that was below them. The battle droid began unfolding themselves and looking around.

“Threepio,” Anakin complained.

The battle droids looked up at them. “They’re intruders,” one of the battle droids said. “Kill them.”

“Roger, roger.” The battle droids starting shooting at them and they dropped flat so that the bolts would go over their heads. The battle droids let off a few more bolts before abandoning the gesture as futile.

“This is just great,” Anne grumbled while the battle droids trundled around trying to find programming that would allow them to get up to the walkway. “Should we crawl, or do you feel like taking out some tinnies?”

“Some what?” Anakin asked.

Anne turned her head and looked at Anakin. She asked slowly, “Do you want to chop off droid heads?”

Anakin let out a heavy sigh. “Right now? Not really.”

Padmé rolled her eyes. “So we crawl,” she decided for them. “Come on.” R2 shot out a tow cable so he could drag C-3PO with them. 3PO complained about the indignity of it but he shut up when Anne asked him if he’d rather have his head shot off.

They were nearly at the door when the walkway began vibrating. The end of it detached from the door and it began collapsing into itself, the end coming closer and closer. “I guess they know we’re here.”

“The rampaging droids weren’t enough of a clue?” Anne looked at the end of the walkway and at the factory floor that was very, very far below them. “Now what?”

Anakin looked at the conveyor belt that was running past them. He stood up. “We jump.” The end of the walkway crept closer.

“What about our droids?” R2 whistled and solved that problem by dropping to a conveyor belt of completed battle droids. The three less durable humans took a few steps back and made running leaps to reach the belt full of metal pieces that were being compacted into droid arms. So, they weren’t going to fall to their deaths but they now had to worry about being squished flat. It wasn’t the greatest trade-off. 

They began to run down the belt, away from the machine that would smash them if they ended up under it. Padmé shouted and Anakin turned around to see her hanging over one of the empty metal vats that were waiting to be filled. Anne was gripping her wrist with one hand. Padmé threw up her other hand for Anne to grab. The two of them were moving backwards towards the machine that they were trying to get away from. “Keep moving, Ani,” Padmé shouted. “We’re fine!”

They were fine. Anne managed to pull Padmé back up to the conveyor belt and they had started heading back towards Anakin when something came at them from the side and knocked them down to a round platform below. The wind was knocked out of them and Anne made a face that looked like a fish on dry land as she struggled to breathe.

“Aren’t you pretty?” one of the Geonosians hovering over them chattered, courteously speaking in Basic. “For a human, that is.”

Anne coughed. “If you’re going to kill us you could just save time and take us to Dooku.”

The Geonosians laughed, made the rasping sounds that were what their laughter sounded like. Anne and Padmé could only guess that they were laughing. “We’d rather have a show.”

* * *

Anakin resisted the urge to spit in the face of the Geonosian that had taken his lightsaber. That wouldn’t accomplish anything, and he thought he had killed two of them anyway. He stepped into the chariot without any pushing and stood behind Padmé and Anne, waiting.

“I’m sorry for getting us killed,” Anne whispered. “If we die, I want you to know I’m sorry.”

“But we’re not going to die, remember?” Anakin said.

Anne’s lips quirked into a half smile. “We hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't ask me what I was thinking with this chapter. It was NaNoWriMo. I wasn't.


	6. Chapter 6

The chariot rolled into the arena to loud cheering from the crowd. Obi-Wan squinted and saw Senator Amidala and Anakin standing with an unfamiliar brown-skinned Human woman. They were taken out of the chariot and led to the remaining three stone pillars.

“It took you long enough,” Obi-Wan said conversationally. “I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t make it.”

Anakin grinned at him. “We had to decide if we should come here or not. Dagobah is quite nice this time of year.” Obi-Wan gave a single, sarcastic laugh. Dagobah was awful any time of year.

The Geonosians finished chaining them up. As they left, Obi-Wan tilted his head towards the unknown woman. “Who’s your new friend?”

“Oh, that’s Anne. I’ll introduce you. I’ve told her a lot about you,” Anakin said.

“All good things, I hope.”

“Of course, Master.”

A booming voice echoed around the arena. The being was speaking in Huttese so Obi-Wan understood maybe one word out of every ten. A gong sounded and the gates in front of the pillars opened. Geonosians carrying electrical probes forced four creatures out into the arena. One unlucky Geonosian was bitten in half by a furry, purple creature with a lot of teeth. “That one looks like fun.” Anakin nodded to the purple creature. “I wonder who’ll get it.”

The creatures were released. The tall green one headed for Obi-Wan. It stabbed at him with one leg and he rolled out of the way. The creature’s next strike demolished the pillar and left him free to run for his life. Judging the distance carefully, he dodged another strike and then attempted a Force-assisted jump onto the creature’s back. He landed just where he had aimed for and from his new vantage point he was able to get a good view of Senator Amidala standing on top of the pillar she was now only chained to by one wrist and whipping the long-clawed creature jumping at her with the loop of chain. Well, he wasn’t the only one on top of things. Anne had also managed to unlock one of her cuffs and as the purple creature came snapping at her she slid past its jaws and grabbed onto the fur on its underside. Anakin was completely free and jabbing at the bantha-on-spice with one of the electrical probs.

Obi-Wan’s creature reared up and, as he only had two cuffed-together hands to try to hold on with, he tumbled to the ground. The creature went to step on him but was stopped by Anakin jabbing the electrical probe into it. “Need some help, Master?” Anakin tossed a piece of metal to Obi-Wan, who caught it and saw that it was a key, presumably the key that would unlock his handcuffs. How Anakin had managed to get it from their captors Obi-Wan didn’t bother to imagine, there were just too many possibilities. Anakin goaded Obi-Wan’s creature into attacking his while Obi-Wan unlocked his handcuffs.

“Look out!” Obi-Wan dove to the side again and the stampeding purpled creature missed him by a whisker. When the dust cleared, Anne was lying on the ground beside him spitting fur out of her mouth. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Anne Sparks.”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The crowd of Geonosians rose into the air as lightsabers were turned on all throughout the arena. The gates opened again, releasing an army of battle droids. “Are you any good in a fight?”


	7. Chapter 7

The tinnies didn’t know what hit them. Anakin grinned as he mowed through three more standard battle droids with the lightsaber Master Windu had tossed to him. He was going to start calling them that now, tinnies.

The droidekas gave them a bit more, fine, a lot more trouble. One of them tore a Jedi to shreds with its blaster bolts and their lightsaber went skittering across the ground, tripping up another Jedi. Padmé took out the droid that would have killed him with a well-placed bolt from her pilfered blaster.

He sliced the heads off more tinnies. Where were Artoo and Threepio? He hadn’t seen them since they split up in the droid factory. Hopefully they were alright.

Anne was suddenly next to him, fighting with a green lightsaber that had definitely not been given to her. “Do you even know how to use that?” he asked.

She answered his question by spearing two tinnies at the same time, the weight of their bodies slicing them completely in half. “It’s better than a blaster. I have no aim!”

To Anakin’s left one of the droidekas gave a wracking shiver. It tottered a few steps before exploding in a shower of shrapnel. The few Jedi nearby managed to duck and the only ones hit were the droids. “That was most unsafe!” R2 made a sound that was the equivalent of rolling his eyes at his companion. C-3PO untangled himself from the remains of the droideka that R2 had used to hide them. If his eyes could have widened as he looked around then they would have. He threw up is arms. “Is this a _battle_? I am not programed for this!”

Battle droids continued flooding the arena, and didn’t stop. Soon the Jedi, Padmé, Anne, R2 and 3PO were surrounded. “You are defeated,” Count Dooku said from his spot high above the carnage. “The Jedi Order is weak. There is nothing you can do to stop us. Surrender now, and save yourselves the trouble.”

“We will never surrender,” Windu said. Though he spoke softly, his voice carried throughout the arena. “We will not give up on peace.”

“Peace?” Dooku chuckled sadly. “Peace is a lie, there is only passion. My passion, our passion for freedom is why we will succeed, and why you will fail. The path you tread leads only to war, and what do the Jedi know of war?”

Blaster fire rained down on the arena. Dooku automatically ducked while the droids toppled into piles. “Know little, we do. Sadly, learn, we will.” Yoda looked down from the clones’ transport. “Coming, are you?”

The ragtag group of fighters, and one protocol droid, climbed into the transports. Dooku scowled as they flew off. They would not be leaving Geonosis, not alive anyway. He would make sure of that. His Master would be pleased.


	8. Chapter 8

“Did anyone else notice that Dooku quoted the Sith Code?” Anne shouted over the roar of the transport engines.

Obi-Wan looked back at her. “What?”

“‘Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.’ Anyone?” Padmé looked at the two Jedi on board. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looked at Anne, blinking and with his mouth slightly open. Anne shook her head. “You Jedi have to stop censoring history.”

“Who are you?” Obi-Wan asked. That wasn’t a rhetorical question. The Force gathered around “Anne Sparks” was a scattering of black sand reaching out towards Anakin’s burning light like two galaxies that wanted to merge together. And Anakin’s Force-presence was reaching back. Senator Amidala’s Force-presence, which was usually so bright that combined with her uncanny perception it made every Jedi wonder if she was Force-sensitive, was flecked with silver at the edges like some sort of armour. 

Obi-Wan wouldn’t admit to being scared, but it was scary. 

Blaster bolts hit the underside of the transport, sending people stumbling. Luckily no one fell out.

“Can we discuss Anne’s origins and the problems with the Jedi Order when we’re not in the middle of a war zone?” Anakin asked sarcastically. Obi-Wan opened his mouth to reprimand his apprentice but a shout from Padmé distracted him.

“Dooku is there!” She pointed towards a stretch of sand where the black splotch of Dooku’s cloak could be seen speeding away. “We can’t let him escape.”

“Pilot,” Obi-Wan ordered. “Follow that speeder!”

“Aye aye, sir.” The transport banked right and they began travelling over the desert. There were several explosions and the transport tilted again. This time one of the clones fell to the sand below and Padmé was left hanging by one hand on the edge of the floor. Anne grabbed her arm and Anakin helped her to pull Padmé back on board.

“That’s the second time today,” Anne commented. “We should get you a parachute or something.”

After the one of the other clones confirmed that the clone that had fallen out of the transport was alright they continued to follow Dooku. When he jumped off his speeder and disappeared into a cave Obi-Wan and Anakin jumped out and went after him while Padmé, Anne, and the clones had to wait until the transport was level with the cliff edge before they could get out. Just as they entered the cave Obi-Wan and Anakin charged at Dooku, lightsabers raised. The whirlwind lightsaber battle was too fast for them to track and the clones eventually gave up on shooting Dooku without hitting one of the Jedi. They and Padmé still kept their blasters raised though, just in case there was an opening. One of the clones entered the ship that was parked in the cave and had a two second battle with the droid pilot. Unless Dooku could fly himself he wouldn’t be getting out that way. Hopefully he was a worse flyer than Anne. 

Anakin screamed. His lightsaber, and his right arm, went one way while Dooku’s Force lightning sent him tumbling in another. He hit the cave wall hard and slid to the floor, stunned. “Ani!” Padmé made to run towards him but was stopped by Anne and a clone.

“I’ll take care of him,” Anne promised. “You guys do something other than stand here and hope for a shot.” Really, it was a miracle that Dooku hadn’t killed them all already. Now that Anakin was out of the fight though, they were in trouble.

While Anne dodged Force lightning on her way across the cave, Padmé ordered the clones to block the entrance of the cave and the ship to stop Dooku from having anywhere to run. A split second later she saw a chance to shoot Dooku, and she did. Dooku deflected the bolt to the ceiling but that moment of distraction was enough time for Obi-Wan to slice through his upper arm, leaving behind a deep, cauterized cut. Dooku snarled and began attacking Obi-Wan with twice as much fury as he had been before.

“Let me help him,” Anakin groaned. “I have to—”

“Rest,” Anne interrupted. “You’d be no help. You just got hit by lightning.” _And had your arm chopped off_ , she added mentally. 

“But—” Anne clapped a hand over his mouth.

Obi-Wan blinked. Sweat burned his eyes. His movements were slowing, enough that the clones and Padmé could fire at Dooku without worrying about hitting him. Dooku frowned at the interference and without looking away from Obi-Wan he sent a blast of Force lighting in the direction that the bolts were coming from. A woman and a man screamed and the firing stopped.

Obi-Wan made a mistake. Dooku’s lightsaber came at him from the left and he was too slow to block it completely. Dooku’s red saber blade slid up his own blue one and bit into his ribcage. His entire side felt like it was on fire and the pain pushed him to the ground. He watched as Dooku raised his lightsaber above his head and swung it down for the fatal blow.

It never came. 

Dooku’s lightsaber was stopped by a small green blade and Jedi Grand Master Yoda tutted. “Fallen so far as to kill an unarmed being, have you?”

Dooku smiled and shook his head. “I have not fallen. I have risen above anything the Jedi could ever teach me.” 

In one move he leapt away from Yoda and sliced through the clone blocking his way to his ship. In a second he was at the controls and the ship was taking off. One of the remaining clones levelled his blaster at the ship.

“Stop,” Yoda ordered. “Let him go, we will. Enough pain today, there has been. Capture him, we will, but another time.” The clone lowered his blaster and looked around at his brothers, dead and injured, at the two Jedi lying nearly comatose on the floor, and the woman who’d fought just as hard as him only to end up electrocuted and hardly breathing.

“Yes, sir,” said the clone, who would soon come to be known as Cody. He looked at the small green Jedi. “As you say.”


	9. Chapter 9

When Anakin opened his eyes and saw that he was in the Healer’s Wing he groaned. This was his least favourite part of the Temple, mostly because whenever he ended up there he wasn’t allowed to leave soon enough. 

“You’re awake.” Anne’s voice came from his left. When he turned his head he saw her sitting beside him and Obi-Wan lying asleep on the sleep couch behind her.

“How long has it been? Where’s Padmé?” He remembered hearing her scream but he guessed that it was around that time that he passed out. He couldn’t remember anything after that. “What happened to her?” 

Anne counted off the answers on her fingers. “A few hours. Padmé would be here if she could but the Senate needed her. Dooku hit her with Force lighting, but she’s fine now.” Anne held up a hand before Anakin could start worrying. “Two Jedi Masters are guarding her. She’s perfectly safe.”

Anakin looked over at his Master. “What happened to Obi-Wan?”

Anne grimaced. “Dooku sliced through a few ribs. He just got out of the bacta tank.” She moved a bit closer to him. “How’s your arm?”

“My arm?” Anakin looked down at his right arm. He hadn’t even noticed that there was anything wrong with it. It just felt numb, which was pretty normal for him when he was in the Healer’s Wing. His eyes widened as he took in the thin-fingered black robotics that were now practically his entire arm below the elbow. He tried to make a fist and was only slightly surprised when the fingers on the prostatic curled under his command. “Right. My arm. It’s fine. Doesn’t hurt or anything.”

Anne rolled her eyes. Her thought of _Do I have to tell you how many pain meds you’re on?_ floated into his head, making him smile.

And, no, that wasn’t weird at all.

Anne sighed. “Anakin, the Clone Wars have started. I mean, no one’s calling them, it that but the Republic has declared war on the Separatists.” She bit her lip. “Right now the Senate, and the Council, is deciding whether Jedi should fight or not.”

Anakin pushed himself into a seated position. “Of course we’ll fight! The Jedi can’t just stand by while the Republic is in danger!” _The Sith lord is running the Republic. Of course he’ll make you fight._ This time the stray thought that wasn’t his own made Anakin sit bolt upright and hit his head on the metal arm thing that for some reason was above the sleep couch. “Ow!” He rubbed the top of his head. “The Sith lord is _what?_ ”

“How did you—” Anne was cut off before she could finish her question by the door to the room sliding open and a pink Twi'lek Jedi Healer entering with a Mon Calamari Padawan following behind her.

“Miss Sparks, the Council wishes to speak with you,” the Healer said lightly. Anne and Anakin both blinked at her. _Jedi don’t joke, right?_

“The Council wants to speak with me?” Anne’s voice went up a full octave at the end of the sentence and Obi-Wan mumbled in his sleep. Anakin blinked again.

“Yes.” The Healer gestured for the Padawan to come forward. “Padawan Vebb will escort you.” The Mon Calamarian nodded.

“Alright.” Anne rose slowly. She looked back at Anakin as she left. “I’ll see you soon.” _Hopefully._

As the door closed behind her, Anakin looked at the Healer hopefully. “When do I get to leave?” The Healer looked back at him and didn’t bother to reply. “Seriously?!”


	10. Chapter 10

Mace Windu was not one to enjoy mysteries. Sure, he could usually solve them quickly but when he couldn’t they ended up being the sort of mystery that ended up getting a lot of people killed. The woman who’d come back from Geonosis with Kenobi and Skywalker was a mystery, one that he hadn’t been able to solve.

Yet.

In the chair beside him, Yoda chuckled quietly. Mace looked at him. “Thinking hard, you are, hmm? See it in your eyes, I can.” 

“Much has happened today,” Master Plo Koon mused. “We all have a lot to think about.” Noises of agreement came after his statement, along with a few muffled yawns. The entire Council had been busy since they left Geonosis. Even Jedi Masters got tired.

The door to the Council’s chamber opened and Anne Sparks entered. The Human woman bowed to the Jedi Masters before walking further into the room. She stood directly across from Mace Windu and waited for the Council to speak.

“Come a long way, you have,” Grand Master Yoda said with a nod. “But not welcome, you believe you will be?”

“Not me so much as what I know, Master Yoda,” Anne said. “Information that would be dangerous in the wrong hands is not something that you want right now.”

Mace made a small huffing sound that no one else heard.

“Believe this truly, you do?” Yoda asked.

Anne bowed to Yoda reflexively. Images of Jedi being killed by clone troopers and the Temple in flames assaulted the minds of each of the Council members as the woman unintentionally broadcasted her thoughts. Master Plo Koon turned a pale shade of orange and many of the other Councillors tensed. 

“Yes, Master.”

“Your Master, I am not,” Yoda chided, his voice shaking.

Mace spoke up. “What is it that you know that you believe would be so dangerous?” What could destroy the Jedi?

“I know everything about how this war could go, Masters.” Anne squeezed her eyes shut. “I know how it could end.”

“Has the Force shown you this future?” Master Tiin asked.

Anne shook her head. “No, Master. I’m not Force-sensitive.”

“Not sure of that, you should be.” Anne opened her eyes and looked at the Jedi Grand Master. Her unspoken question received a nod from him before he went back to the matter at hand. “Saw the future, but no through the Force. A ‘movie’ call it you?”

“You think that a holofilm showed you the Galaxy’s future?” asked another Master incredulously. Anne held his gaze.

“Master, where I am from none of you are real but everything you’ve done has been recorded.” She thought for a moment and flashes of images were thrown out so quickly that they couldn’t be seen. She looked at Mace Windu. “‘The thefts seem small for now. But a small threat can be a hint of a greater threat to come. Either from within or without, this threat is real.’” Mace blinked at the exact quoting of the words he had spoken to Qui-Gon many, many years ago and hadn’t known that he had remembered. Anne looked at each of the Council members. “I could tell you about the invention of the lightsaber or the experiments done by Je'daii, but I doubt that would make you believe me.”

“Not remember the Je'daii, most do,” Master Yoda mused. “Of this war, tell us would you?”

Anne bit her lip. What could she tell them that wouldn’t reveal the entire outcome of the war, wouldn’t make it worse?

“Jedi generals will lead the clones,” she said eventually. If that had been decided already it hadn’t been released to the public yet. “On the Separatists’ side, a cyborg called General Grievous will be put in charge of a ship.” _I want to get out of here._ “And the Separatists have blueprints for a battle station that can destroy whole planets.”

The Jedi Masters looked at each other. “Tell us more, you will, when the time comes,” Yoda decided. “Where is it, you are from?”

“Earth, Master Yoda.” Anne smiled slightly. “You could say that it’s in a galaxy far, far away.”

“Hmmm, stay here, you should. Helpful, you will be.” He quirked his brow. “Or help the Separatists, you could.”

“My friends are part of the Republic, Master. I stand with them.” _Thank the Force._

“Hmm. Change, allegiances do.” With that Yoda got out of his chair saying, “Late, it is. Meet again tomorrow, we will.” He headed towards the door and after a moment the other Masters followed his lead.

Anne stood to the side so that Yoda and the Masters close behind him could leave before her. She was about to duck through the door when Master Windu put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her aside.

“Why do the clones start killing Jedi?” He asked in a whisper. “Who destroys the Temple?” Anne waited until the rest of the Councillors had left before whispering back.

“They have, may have, an order numbered sixty-six. Look into that. The Temple…to minimize deaths it would be helpful to have two.” She left the room before Mace could ask anything else. He scowled. More mysteries, how very wonderful.

* * *

Anakin was waiting outside the Council chamber. When Anne left he stopped leaning against the wall and gave a small wave with his robotic hand. “I didn’t expect to see you,” Anne commented when she’d gotten close enough not to have to yell. “Shouldn’t you still be at the Healers’?”

Anakin grinned. “Yeah, Obi-Wan got us both out of there after he woke up.” Anakin fell into step beside Anne. “What did the Council want?”

“I don’t really know. Yoda, Master Yoda asked one question and then I just ended up begin asked about the future.” _About the_ Star Wars _movies._

Anakin lowered his voice. “You mean about the movies?”

“Among other things.”

_Clone troopers shooting down Jedi._

_Obi-Wan battling a four-armed cyborg wielding a lightsaber with each hand._

_The Jedi Temple, burning._

_Mace Windu having his limbs sliced off by a red lightsaber._

Anakin stumbled sideways and caught himself on the wall. Master Windu gave him a sidelong glance as he walked towards the elevator. “Are you alright, Padawan Skywalker?”

_I’m not alright._ “I’m fine, Master.” Windu gave him another look like he didn’t believe him, but he nodded and continued walking.

“Which is it, Anakin?” Anne asked. “I don’t think you can’t be alright but still be fine.”

“I just said that I’m fine.” He pushed off of the wall. “Were you thinking about…” _The end of the Jedi Order?_

Anne nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s hard not to.” _When you’ve know about it for your entire life._

_Who was the cyborg?_

_General Grievous._

_Why were the clones killing Jedi?_

_Sidious activated Order 66._

_Who is Sidious?_

_Palpatine._

“What!” They were on a lower level now and Anakin’s loud shout made a group of Initiates jump and look at him fearfully before hurrying down the hallway. “He can’t be!”

“Maybe he isn’t, but he was.”

“I hope you’re not talking about me.” Anakin and Anne turned around to see Obi-Wan standing behind them. “Whoever ‘he’ is doesn’t sound like a very nice person.”

“He—” Anakin was cut off by Anne elbowing him. He looked at her incredulously and she looked back.

_It’s late. We can talk about this in the morning._ Anne’s eyes flicked briefly towards Obi-Wan. _We can tell him in the morning._

_Are you sure?_

_Yes._

“Fine.” Anakin looked at Obi-Wan. “Did you need something, Master?”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “I was wondering where you were going. You walked right past Master Tachi’s room.”

Anakin looked past Obi-Wan and saw the blond woman standing in a doorway with her arms crossed, leaning against the open door. “Sorry, Master. I had a lot on my mind.”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. “Of course you did, Anakin. That’s why you walked past an open door.”

“Sorry, Master.”

“Master Tachi as in Siri Tachi?” Anne asked.

Obi-Wan looked at her. “You’ve heard of her?”

“A few times,” Anne said.

Obi-Wan nodded. “Well, Siri has offered to let you stay with her until you find more permanent arrangements.” He rolled his eyes towards his Padawan. “Anakin was supposed to tell you.”

“Sorry, Master.”

_You’re said that three times already._

_You were counting?_

_Maybe._

Obi-Wan sighed. “So you’ve said, Anakin. Why don’t you head to our rooms while I introduce Anne to Master Tachi, if you think you can manage it?”

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Yes, Master.”

* * *

A fresh mug of tea clinked onto the table in front of Obi-Wan. He automatically picked it up and raised it to his lips, never breaking Anakin’s gaze. _Master?_ Anakin’s thought trickling through their Force bond prodded him with concern.

_I’m fine, Anakin. Just processing._ He took another sip of his tea. Anne sat down beside Anakin and looked between the Master and the Padawan. Obi-Wan looked like he was alright. They hadn’t dumped anything too disturbing on him but finding out there were a bunch of films in another galaxy that told the future of yours was a lot to process.

“Do you know everything that will happen?” Obi-Wan asked finally.

Anne shook her head. “There’s so much that’s already changed. The war wasn’t supposed to start for a few more days, for one.”

“Is that why you think Chancellor Plapatine might not be the Sith lord?” Anakin asked.

Anne nodded while Obi-Wan put his mug on the table before he dropped it. “The _Chancellor_ is a _Sith_?”

“He was, in the movies.” Anne looked at Anakin, asking for permission. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan and then nodded to her slowly. “He turned Anakin to the Dark Side.”

“But we don’t know if he is now,” Anakin jumped in before Obi-Wan could say anything.

“Have you told the Council yet?” Obi-Wan knew before he finished the question what the answer would be. Anne’s cheeks flushed pink and Anakin grimaced. “You haven’t. Why?”

“What’s worse for the Republic, going into a war or going into a war with no leadership?” Anne weighed the two possibilities with both hands and the second one dropped. “ _If_ he’s the Sith lord then he wants all the Jedi dead, but that’s not going to happen in one night because he’ll have plans, and if he isn’t we need someone to head the Senate.” Her hands dropped back to the top of the table. “Besides, we’d need proof.”

“She didn’t even tell me about it until last night,” Anakin added. “I’ll tell the Council today.”

“We’ll tell the Council today,” Obi-Wan corrected. He tipped his head back and drank the last drops of his tea. “I can’t have my apprentice accusing the leader of the Republic of being a Sith lord without me, can I?”

Anakin smiled weakly. “No, Master. You can’t.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “They won’t be in session for a while though.” He looked at Anne. “Why don’t you tell us more about these Je'daii while we wait?”

“I’d be happy to.” Anne closed her eyes and thought for a moment. When she’d decided where to star, she opened them and began. She’d decided to start at the beginning.

“The Je’daii believed in balance between both sides of the Force. This was inspired by the two moons that orbited Tython, their home planet. The Je’daii had seven Temples on the planet’s surface and each one taught a different discipline…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I'd just read _Into the Void_ when I was writing this?


	11. Chapter 11

There was a knock at her door. Anne carefully lowered herself out of the handstand she was doing and brought all the objects that had been hovering back down to their proper place. She shook her head with a smile. Back on Earth when she was stressed out she’d grab her dad or her brother Lando and go hit baseballs in the diamond by their house. Here she was meditating and immersing herself in the Force, the complete opposite of swinging a bat as hard as she could. Though maybe that had nothing to with being in a different galaxy, maybe she was just growing up.

There was another knock. She straightened her shirt and went to open the door. When she sensed who was behind it she blinked in surprise. Anakin grinned at her when the door opened. “I didn’t know you were back already!”

“We got in earlier than we expected. No surprise attacks,” Anakin said. Anne looked over his shoulder at the young Togruta with orange skin and blue and white head-tails standing behind him. Was that…

“Come in, both of you.” Anne stood to the side to let them enter. “Have you had breakfast yet? I might have some fruit left… No, that was last week. I have food that isn’t army rations.”

“We ate downstairs. Have you eaten?” Anakin looked at her with one eyebrow raised. He could feel how nervous she was and it was almost guaranteed that she had forgotten to eat.

“R3 reminded me.” The green and white astromech droid beeped and flashed a light through its transparisteel dome, its way of saying hello. “Who’s your shadow?”

Anakin smiled. “Anne, this is my Padawan, Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka, this is Anne Sparks.”

Ahsoka’s eyes widened. “The Council’s Advisor?”

“Unless you know another non-Jedi who lives in the Temple.” Anne smiled. “Nice to meet you, Ahsoka.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Ahsoka’s eyes flashed around the main room of the apartment. It was smaller than she expected for the celebrated Advisor, who’d single-hardly helped send the Republic armies to victory. The only differences she could see from the regular Jedi rooms aside from the droid were the Naboo painting on the wall opposite the window and the decorative metal bowl of mismatched rocks on the table in front of the couch. “Do you really have all the security codes that the Seps are going to use?”

“Only the ones that matter.”

“And a network of spies on the Outer Rim planets?”

“If I did, would I tell you?”

“What about—”

“Slow down, Ahsoka.” Anakin looked at his Padawan. “There are these things called rumours. And exaggeration.” Ahsoka coughed uncomfortably.

“How about tea?” Anne asked. She jumped up from where she had sat down on her couch and headed towards the kitchen. “I think I have a bit of honey.” Anakin walked up behind her and placed a hand on her arm. Anne looked up at him.

“Anne, we’re fine, really. Sit down. You still have half an hour, right?” Anakin asked.

“Right…”

“So, relax a little.”

“I can’t relax, Anakin! This is too big and too frivolous and, and—” _Would you believe that I was meditating before you got here?_ Anne collapsed back on the couch. “Maybe this is a bad idea. We’re in the middle of a war for Force sake!” So _that’s_ what she was stressing out about. Anakin sat down beside her.

“It’s not a bad idea—”

“What is it?” Ahsoka asked. Anakin coughed and raised an eyebrow when she looked at him. It took a moment but white stripes on her head-tails turned pink when she realized her mistake. “Sorry, Master!”

“Its fine, Ahsoka, just don’t interrupt me when we’re around people who won’t be as understanding.”

“Yes, Master.” She went and stood over by the window, fiddling with the lightsaber at her belt. R3 rolled up beside her, beeping conversationally.

Anakin backtracked to what he had been in the middle of saying. “It’s a moral boost, Anne.”

Anne sighed. _If it goes through._ “Let’s not talk about it. How’s Operation Overload going?” Ahsoka’s ears perked up and she tried not to look like she was listening. R3 made the sound that was the astromech droid equivalent of eye rolling.

“Good,” Anakin said. “Padmé’s on board and Master Yoda’s confirmed it, again.”

“He just wanted to double check.”

“I’m insulted that he doesn’t trust me.” Anakin gave a small grin to show that he was joking. To show Ahsoka, because the cheerfulness he sent to Anne made the point clear without any other actions.

Anne rolled her eyes. The tension in her body began to melt away. “And I meant how’s it going on _your_ end.”

“Extremely well,” Anakin said through his teeth. _I don’t think he knows I want to kill him._

“That’s great.” _He probably just thinks you’re mad at the world. That’s a good thing._

 _You’re right._ “Do you know if Siri’s back? Obi-Wan wanted to try to see her and Master Eerin before we have to leave.”

“She got back last night. She said she was going to choose a Padawan, didn’t you see her?” Anne blinked. She looked at Ahsoka and then back at Anakin. “Wait a minute. Demonstrations don’t start until the afternoon… ” _How do you have a Padawan already?_

Anakin grinned. “That’s a long story.” Luckily he could fit it into what was left of half an hour.

* * *

The windows in the Council chamber darkened. R3 turned around and aimed its projector at the blank space over the door, where everyone would be able to see.

Anne cleared her throat. “To begin, let me take you back about 36,434 years, to the founding of the Je’daii Order.” R3 projected an image of the planet Tython, followed by a picture of the practically unrecognizable ruins of a Je’daii Temple. “The Je’daii were Force users, and their way of life led to the creation of the Jedi Order we know today, but the Je’daii were different from today’s mainstream Jedi in two important ways: they used both sides of the Force,” The ruins were replaced by a picture of Tython’s two moons. “And they could have families.” R3 showed the Council a Twi’lek child swinging happily between its parents.

“I’m not going to lecture you on your use of the Force,” That was a line she did not want to cross. “But I am going to tell you why Jedi should not be barred from having attachments other than the one to the Order.” If Anne had said to any other group of people that she was going to tell them why they should change a rule that they’d lived by for hundreds of years there would certainly have been shouting and throwing of rotten food, or at the very least some muttering. The Jedi Council, however, just sat in silence and continued listening attentively. Anne took a deep breath before launching into her arguments. Was it bad that most of them had to do with the fact that Jedi who were allowed to be with the people they loved and have families wouldn’t leave the Order and would help it grow? Maybe a little, but she had other points too, like how removing the no attachments rule would make the Order seem more approachable and less like strange mystical creatures. How fostering more connections would make Jedi feel less isolated (she knew about that from living in the Temple), care more on a personal level, really get involved in making the Galaxy a better place.

R3 punctuated her points with pictures that had been carefully chosen from the Archives and slowly, slowly, the stillness and sense of rejection that had been cloaking the room lessened. As she made her final statement Anne saw Master Yoda give her a half smile before the lights came back on and he was all business again.

“Interesting suggestion, you have made, Advisor. Think on this, we all will.” Yoda looked at each other the other Council members. “Perhaps a change, the Order should make, hmm?”

“Perhaps, Grand Master,” Master Windu agreed. “Shall we continue with the rest of the meeting?”

“Order 66 has been wiped from the minds of ninty percent of the clones currently in action,” the holographic form of Master Ki-Adi-Mundi reported as Anne took her seat by the door. “And it is no longer implemented in the clones growing on Kamino. The other ten percent should be clean in about a month.”

Yoda nodded. “Good news, that is.”

“Is it possible to clear them sooner?” Master Tiin asked. “Ten percent is still a lot of clones and that order could be activated at any time.”

“We can’t move any faster without severely weakening defences,” Master Plo Koon reminded him. “We’ll have to make sure that the Jedi leading the affected troops know to be alert.”

“Without letting them know about the Order? How?” Master Piell asked.

That was a good question. Outside of the Council and Anne, no one knew about erasing Order 66. If it got out that they knew about it, Sidious would definitely hear and they could not afford to have him activate it.

“A general warning perhaps?” Master Tiin suggested. “It’s only another month.”

“That could work. What about the aid and supply drops?” Master Windu asked.

“Changing the routes has helped,” Master Mundi said. “More than eighty percent of the ships are making it to their destinations, fifty percent of that completely unharmed.”

“We’ve gotten nowhere with the Hutts though,” Anne added. “Their hyperspace routes are still off limits to all ships.”

“Perhaps we should send in the Negotiator,” Master Mundi said seriously. “Those routes are too useful to let them fall under Separatist use.”

“The Hutts just don’t seem to want to takes sides.” Anne shrugged, “I guess they’re making too much money selling to everyone.”

“Perhaps wise, they are, to not take sides,” Yoda mused. “Only suffering, this war brings.”

“The war would be going on even if we weren’t fighting,” Master Tiin said. “I for one would prefer to know who my enemy is.”

“We’re getting off topic,” Master Windu steered them back to what the meeting was supposed to be about. “Count Dooku has been spotted in the Outer Rim. How are we going to stop him from turning more systems to their side?”


	12. Chapter 12

It was a productive meeting at least. The Council was better than the Senate in that way, when they had a problem they all agreed on a way to deal with it. They didn’t dither on for days and days until the problem was just taken care of for them.

They voted quickly too.

When Anakin went up to Anne’s rooms he found her standing by the windows staring out at the lights of the city. “Just because you’re keyed into the lock doesn’t mean you can come in here at all hours.”

“I didn’t give you your present. This one’s from Kashyyyk. ” Anakin added a small green stone to the bowl on the table, where it clinked against the others he’d brought from most of the different planets he’d been to. He always remembered to bring one back, except when they barely escaped from the planet with their lives.

“That _is_ where you were.”

Anakin walked over to Anne and put his hands on her shoulders. “Aren’t you going to join the celebrations? Siri’s broken out some whiskey she had stashed away.”

Anne shook her head. “I’m good, thanks. You should go enjoy yourself. You’re going to be dropped into another war zone tomorrow.”

Anakin wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. “Please come.”

“Anakin!” Anne turned around and pushed herself out of his embrace.

Anakin threw his hands up in surrender. “What?” _It’s not against the rules anymore._

“Well, yes.” _But you and Padmé—_

_Are just friends. It’s been years, Anne._

_A year and a half._ She corrected. _If you’ve just swapped from obsessing over her to obsessing over me..._

 _I haven’t._ He went and sat down on the couch, burying his face in his hands. _Look, Anne, you and Padmé are both my friends but being with you, being around you, it’s different. You always make me feel happy, not matter what’s going on. I can tell you anything and know that you’ll care about what I have to say. When you’re happy, I’m happy and when you’re sad I want to make you feel better._

_That’s called being a good friend, Anakin._

_But I feel like it’s more._ He looked up at her. _Couldn’t we just try—_

 _No._ She went and sat down next to him. _Anakin, think about it. How would the Council react? Other Jedi? I know almost everyone is happy about the Council voting for the change, but it would look like I had proposed it for_ us _, not for everyone else in the Order. If we starting seeing each other like that then it would seem…selfish._

Anakin shifted closer to her and tentatively put his arm over her shoulders. She didn’t move away and actually leaned against him with a sigh. _Anne, what people think shouldn’t be important._

_But it is. That’s what started this war, a lot of people thinking that they couldn’t become independent any other way._

_And a Sith lord,_ Anakin reminded her.

 _And a Sith lord,_ she ceded. “It’s just too much of a risk, for both of us.”

“I understand.” He did, he just didn’t like it. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to Siri’s? Bant will like having someone around who can turn the conversation away from ships if we get to that point.” And he could use a drink.

Anne sighed again. “What the heck, I could use a drink.”

The mood in Siri’s rooms was festive, just like it was in most of the Temple. On the way there Anakin and Anne passed groups of Padawans, Initiates, and younger Jedi who hadn’t yet been on the front lines celebrating in the hallways, to the chagrin of some older Masters. Other Jedi were ducking in and out of rooms, enjoying time with their friends and organizing impromptu parties. Some were dancing to the music a few Bith Jedi were playing and had composed for the occasion (though if you asked them they would insist that they were just tuning their instruments). Then there were the few who hid in corners and behind curtains for their very first kisses, or their species’ equivalent, and even fewer who were brave enough to throw the last vestiges of the attachment rule out the window and hug and kiss out in the open where anyone could cheer or (rarely) scowl as they passed by.

It was only due to Advisor Sparks not being commonly known by sight that stopped them from being mobbed. Ahsoka saw them once, but she just smiled and carefully blocked them from view as they slipped into the next hallway.

There weren’t very many people at Siri’s. Obi-Wan was there, of course, as were Bant Eerin and Garen Muln, the other members of his childhood clan who were his friends and weren’t out fighting or otherwise aiding the war effort at that moment. When Anakin and Anne arrived, Bant was the first to spot them. “There’s the woman of the hour!” She put down her glass of water and went to give Anne a hug. “Congratulations, Advisor.”

Anne smiled slightly. The stress of the war showed clearly on Bant’s face, her eyes were always tired and her scales were dim, so anything that made her happy was a good thing in Anne’s book.

Obi-Wan smiled a wide grin that was larger than any smile that had been on his face since the war started. “I don’t know how you managed to change the Council’s mind about this, but well done.”

“And thank you.” Siri came out of her kitchen carrying two glasses of whiskey, which she handed to Anakin and to Anne when Bant released her. She then went over to Obi-Wan and kissed him on the cheek. The bearded Jedi blushed. “This is one of the best surprises we could have with the war going on.”

“A nice moral boost for everyone,” Jedi Muln toasted Anne with his glass. “Especially with some of the Padawans heading out for the first time. How is your Padawan, Master Skywalker?”

“Ahsoka,” Anakin smiled and shook his head. “She’s going to be a handful.”

Jedi Muln raised an eyebrow. “Tell me you’d have it any other way.”

Anakin laughed. “Definitely not.”

Anne took a sip of her drink and hid a wince as the whiskey burned its way down her swollen throat. She turned away from the group so that no one would see the tears welling in her eyes. Of course she didn’t succeed. Bant noticed her red eyes and pulled her into the kitchen under the guise of putting together a snack. Siri and Anakin were engaged in a fierce debate over which of their new Padawans was better at Ataru and didn’t question them when they left.

“What’s wrong, fingerling?” Bant asked when the door had closed behind them.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Anne couldn’t hold her tears back any longer and they spilled over. Her cheeks quickly became wet. “I shouldn’t be crying. I don’t know why I’m crying!”

Bant tilted her head. She sensed fear, jealousy and a flood of longing coming from Anne, and she wrapped her fingerling in a hug, trying to keep the Dark Side at bay. “You can tell me, honey.” 

Anne tried to breathe calmly but just ended up hiccuping due to her crying. She didn’t reply to Bant right away but a tiny spark of light keeping back the darkness grew enough that Bant could sense it. Love. Love, not just for the Mon Calamarian who had become like a mother to her but for someone who she felt she _shouldn’t_ love, for their own sake. Now was not the time to chid Anne about not controlling her emotions, but that was far too easy to read. “Who is it, Anne?”

Anne whispered the name into Bant’s robes like that would make the admitting less painful. “Oh, honey.” Bant stroked the younger woman’s hair. “Have you told him?”

“No.” Anne drew back and wiped tears off her face with her sleeve. “He’s a Jedi and I…We can only be friends. People would think—”

Bant interrupted her firmly. “If we all cared less about what others think about us then everyone would be much happier. You go in there right now and tell him.” 

“Bant…” Anne closed her eyes. “I can’t.”

A lightsaber cut a path of death through the Temple, all the way to a group of Yonglings hiding in the Council chamber. Master Windu was thrown through a high window, his arms and legs gone. A burnt Human pulled itself up the bank of a river of lava with its remaining arm. The images were fuzzy, like Anne was trying not to let them show, but the fear that accompanied them made Bant gasp. It wormed its way into her heart but she forced it out and spoke soothingly to Anne.

“Whatever vision you’ve had doesn’t have to happen. You know what Master Yoda says about the future always changing.”

“I know.” Anne opened her eyes and looked at Bant. “I know it probably won’t happen and I know I shouldn’t be scared, but I am.”

“Fear likes to stick around, even when it shouldn’t.” Bant’s eyes flashed. “It’s your job to punch it in the face and tell it to get out, or better yet scare it so much that it runs away screaming.”

Anne laughed despite herself. “Bant, you ought to be a motivational speaker.”

“Will you do it, fingerling? Go scare your fear silly?”

Anne nodded. “I will.” She gave Bant a hug. “Thank you, Bant.”

“Any time, dear.” She looked around the kitchen. “We’d better put together something to eat or the boys’ll be disappointed. What does Siri have in here anyway?” The answer to that was one frozen piece of some sort of meat, half a bag of raw tubers and a bag of mixed nuts. Bant also found a wedge of hard cheese in the back of the refrigeration unit and Anne pulled some dry crackers out from behind an empty jar in a cupboard. “Well, that’s better than I expected.” They poured some of the nuts into a bowl and sliced some of the cheese to go with the crackers. It wouldn’t last long with six of them but it was getting late anyway.

When they entered the main room, Siri and Anakin were still bragging about their Padawans.

“You’ve only know them for a day,” Muln said when they paused for breath. “Can’t you wait until later to see who could beat Master Yoda in a lightsaber battle?”

“That’s easy,” Siri scoffed. “Neither of them. No one can beat Master Yoda.” Beside her, Bant felt Anne shiver. She looked over at her and held her gaze. Anne shook her head.

“I hope you’re not too hungry,” Bant said. She and Anne put the food down of the table. “Siri apparently hasn’t restocked yet.”

Siri shrugged. “I’m leaving again tomorrow, there’s no point.”

Bant and Anne sat down. Bant was closer to the empty spot on the couch near Anakin but she crossed in front of Anne and went to sit beside Siri, leaving Anne to sit beside Anakin. Garen preferred just leaning against the wall. Anakin picked up his drink and swallowed about half of it in one go.

“So, Anakin, how does Ahsoka like the rule change?” Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin shrugged. “Oh, she seems happy. Almost everyone is.”

Garen raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

“Me? I…I don’t know. I mean, that rule’s been around forever.”

“Only a few thousand years,” Anne argued. “That’s not forever.”

Anakin sipped more of his drink. “Well, it doesn’t change anything for me, anyway.” 

Obi-Wan and Siri looked between the two young people and Obi-Wan suddenly felt concerned for his former Padawan. “Why would that be, Anakin?”

“Because,” Anakin said shortly.

“Because why?” Obi-Wan asked.

 _Because I was scared._ Anakin looked over at Anne, who was studying the piece of cheese she was holding and trying not to look at Anakin. _It wasn’t just what people would think, Anakin. You know how Vader fell. He was trying to save his wife. He dreamt that the woman he loved was going to die and since he’d already lost his mother when he ignored a dream for too long he would do anything not to lose her._

_But my mother didn’t die. We changed that, Anne._

_I know, but so much hasn’t changed or changed for the worse._ She sighed, thinking of how the entire war had started early. More people were dying because they had ended up on Geonosis before they would have without Anne interfering. 

_You’re saying it could still happen? I’m not going to fall, Anne, trust me._

_I thought that the change would just be my death instead of Padmé’s, that it would still happen no matter what we did to prevent it. I grew up knowing that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. It’s hard to accept that something different could happen._ She finally looked at him. _But I’d like to._

“Anakin?” Obi-Wan’s anxious tone made Anakin turn his gaze away from Anne and to the other people in the room. The four older Jedi were looking at them and Bant was the only one who didn’t look worried. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Master,” Anakin said.

“I’m not your Master anymore, Anakin.”

“I can’t call you ‘father’, can I?” The question made everyone in the room pretty much stop breathing. Obi-Wan stared at Anakin and Anakin stared back.

“Well,” Obi-Wan said slowly. “It isn’t against the rules anymore.” They were all silent as they digested that.

“Could I?” Anakin asked softly.

“Of course.”

“Just don’t start calling me ‘mother’. I’m not old enough for that yet,” Siri joked. Garen chuckled and soon they were back to talking and laughing in the singular “we might not live through tomorrow so let’s enjoy ourselves today” kind of way.

When Siri’s Padawan arrived a few hours later he found Garen “Reckless” Muln sleeping on one couch and Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With No Fear, asleep on the other with a Human female he thought was part of the Council (truthfully he couldn’t be sure because he didn’t pay much attention to who were the higher-ups, just the Chancellor and those leading him personally).He sensed that his Master was asleep in her room with another Jedi, but he was too tired to see who it was. Stretching his head-tails, the young Twi’lek headed to his own room, hoping that he’d be able to wake up in time to leave later that morning.

* * *

Saying goodbye again was hard. After so many goodbyes one would think saying it would have gotten easier, but it hadn’t. Anne, Bant and Garen were part of the small group saying it to the rather large group of Jedi, Masters, Knights and Padawans who were going to the battlefields across the Galaxy. Most of the Padwans had been chosen by their Masters the day before and this would be their first time being close to the real action.

“Take care of him,” Anne told Ahsoka.

“Isn’t he supposed to take care of me?” Ahsoka gave a rakish grin and Anakin flicked her new Padawan braid.

“I’m supposed to _teach_ you, Snips. When I was a Padawan I was always taking care of Obi-Wan.”

“All you ever did was get us out of the trouble you’d gotten us into in the first place!” Obi-Wan said.

Garen rolled his eyes. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Obi-Wan.” 

Anne stepped forwards and gave Anakin a hug, generating much exclamation from anyone who was paying attention to them. Anakin hugged her back. _Any suggestions for this mission?_ he asked.

_If Ahsoka gets pushy you can get Rex to talk her out of it. When you have to take down the tower make sure that you’re standing in front of the hole in the wall when she brings it down on top of you. While you’re rescuing any baby Hutts from unknown kidnappers, spoiler, they’re Dooku and another Hutt, watch what you say because footage can be edited._

_Is that all?_

_Those are the big things. And don’t die. Please._ “Love you,” Anne whispered. 

“Love you too,” Anakin whispered back. It may have been premature (or maybe not) but it needed to be said. He was going off to fight in the war and she was staying on one of the most dangerous populated planet in the Galaxy that wasn’t a war zone. They could both go into the Force tomorrow, and then it would be too late.


	13. Chapter 13

Babysitting was not Siri’s idea of an interesting mission, which was good because her missions had been a bit too interesting lately. Picking up Force-sensitive younglings on Outer Rim planets would be a lot easier than trying to break into a Separatist controlled building full of super battle droids, probably. At least being able to use the Hutt-controlled space routes meant that they wouldn’t run into as many Separatist ships as they would otherwise. With a ship full of younglings, fighting was the last thing she wanted to do. She looked at her empty co-pilot’s seat. A ship full of younglings and Advisor Sparks, who was good at patching people up after a fight and entertaining toddlers but had never been tested in a space battle.

At least they had some clone troopers with them. The Council couldn’t send them out without backup, not now.

“General.” The leading clone, who was called Jims, leaned over the back of the empty seat. “We should be arriving soon?”

“I know, Jims.” She was the one who had been flying after all. She shook her head when she realized that she had been asked a question, not told a fact. “Sorry, Jims. Sit down, please. Yes, we’ll arrive on Dantooine soon.”

The clone took a seat. “That’s good, General. The kiddies are getting restless.”

Siri was well aware of that. Trying to keep the younglings from tearing the ship apart was why she had been flying solo for the past few hours. An astromech droid just wasn’t enough to keep them entertained (not that Anne’s R3 wanted to be treated like a toy), they needed interaction with a living person who didn’t have the same face, like all of the clones did. Siri’s Padawan, Barr’k, was on the ship to but he got sick in hyperspace and had to be sent to sleep with a Force command so that he wouldn’t have to keep throwing up.

“The planet is very remote,” Siri mused. “We may be able to let them out of the ship for a bit.” There were seven younglings, the youngest was a nearly two standard years old Zabrak female and the eldest at eight standard years was a Cerean male. The other younglings between those ages were a variety of species and all had more energy than they knew what to do with. They were being quiet now, but they hadn’t been before.

Actually, that was worrying.

“Jims, is everything alright back there?”

“Of course, General. Advisor Sparks sat the kiddies down and’s telling them a story. Won’t hold them for long though.” Jims grinned. “She’s tried that a few times already and it hasn’t kept them still for more than five minutes.” Well, five minutes was long enough for them to get to Dantooine so that was just fine in Siri’s books.

They landed on the planet right by the farm that the youngling they were looking for was from. Quinlan Vos’s spy network had brought them information about Force sensitives in the Outer Rim and they were picking up every youngling who they could get to leave before the Sith could get to them. The grown Force sensitives had been hidden away by Quinlan’s people in the weeks before but getting the younglings away had to be done officially to stop their parents from worrying.

Anne and Barr’k headed to the farm while Siri took her turn to take care of the younglings. When they got close enough to see the entrance of the house the Human man standing there with a blaster rifle raised his weapon. “Don’t shoot!” Anne raised her hands and motioned for Barr’k to do the same. “We’re friends!”

“Is ‘friends’ the right word?” Barr’k muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve been playing with younglings for hours,” Anne defended. “Your vocabulary would devolve too.”

They made it to the main building without getting shot at. The man still kept his weapon ready, just in case they did turn out to be attackers. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Anne gave the man a shallow bow, which surprised him enough that he lowered the end of his blaster rifle and stared at them. “I’m Anne Sparks and this is Barr’k, we’re from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. We’ve come to meet Tyaya Korr.”

The man nearly dropped his blaster. His eyes darted from the faces of the two strangers to the smooth metal cylinders hanging from their belts, lightsabers.“What do you want with my daughter?”

Anne looked the man in the eyes and clasped her hands in front of her so that he would know she wasn’t trying any Jedi mind tricks on him. “Your daughter is Force sensitive. We would like to offer her the chance to be trained and, hopefully, become a Jedi.”

The man swallowed. “You’d better come in.”

Anne nodded. “As you wish.”

* * *

“Are you sure you want to go, honey?”

Nine-year-old Tyaya nodded to her father. “Yes, Daddy. I want to go.”

“You don’t have to.” Tyaya’s mother looked at the two Jedi with barley veiled disgust. “These people don’t really need you to come with them.”

“I want to go, Mom,” Tyaya insisted. “I can become a Jedi. I can make the Galaxy better for people.”

“If you survive getting there,” her mother muttered.

“We’ll keep her safe,” Anne said, and Tyaya’s mother blushed. She hadn’t thought that anyone had heard her. “You’d better go pack, Tyaya. We have to leave now.”

“Alright Miss Anne!” Tyaya ran out of the room and her father followed after her.

“I don’t like this,” her mother said as soon as she had left the room. “It’s too dangerous.”

“We’ll keep her safe,” Anne said again. “I promise.”

As they left Tyaya’s father took his hands out from behind his back and pressed a metal cylinder into his youngest child’s hands. “This is yours now, Tyaya.” Tyaya held the ancient lightsaber up in front of her with a look of awe on her face. “It’s been in our family for generations, it’s time someone got some use out of it.”

“Thank you, Daddy!”

It didn’t take them long to walk back to the ship. Somehow Barr’k ended up holding Tyaya’s hand to steer her in the right direction while she looked back and waved to her parents. Siri looked absolutely relieved that they were back. 

“Is everyone inside, Jims?” Siri asked.

“Yes, General.” Most of the other younglings were running around inside the ship, the trip outside only having succeeded in imbuing them with more energy with the exception of Vurou, the Zabrak baby, who was asleep in Siri’s arms.

“Then we’re leaving, now.”

That was a good call. Not five seconds after Siri and Jims sat down in the cockpit the sound of cannon fire rained in the area around them. “There’s a ship coming in! Port side!” one of Jims’ men shouted. Siri quickly flipped switches, grabbed the controls and took off. The cannon shots followed them and were countered by one of the clones firing at the ship from one of their gun turrets. Siri could hear the younglings screaming as she desperately pushed the ship to get them out of the atmosphere. Jims was pressing buttons and twisting knobs, plotting a course to get them out of there.

“I’m taking us into hyperspace,” Siri told Jims. “In three, two, one,” she flipped the switch. Lines of stars were painted in the windows as the ship successfully completed the jump to hyperspace. Siri sat back in her seat, breathing out slowly. “Where are we going?”

Jims took his helmet off briefly and rubbed his eyes. “I…don’t entirely know, General. I’m pretty sure I set course for Coruscant.”

“We’ll have to hope that you did.”

The ship rattled. Jims looked around while Siri closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Jims listened to something one of his men was telling him through his helmet’s communications system and then he said “General, our hyperdrive is dying.”

“Thank you, Jims.” Wasn’t it always the hyperdrive? “When—” The ship rattled again and its occupants were thrown around as it tumbled out of hyperspace. When Siri pulled herself above the dash and looked out of the ship it was only her Jedi training that allowed her not to groan or yell loudly. “Go left, Jims, left!” Jims stumbled back to his seat and grabbed the controls, banking the ship out of the way just before they would have been hit by the Y-wing starfighter that had been heading right for them. The Y-wing had banked to its left before firing at something that was behind them. 

Anne pushed herself off the floor with her elbows as she had needed both hands to hold Vurou out of harm’s way when she fell. The baby, bless her, was still fast asleep. “Is everyone alright?”

“We’re fine, Miss Sparks,” Tyaya said, pulling herself up with the wall. The other younglings who could speak and weren’t shocked into silence made vague sounds that could have been agreement.

“Miss,” one of the clones helped Anne up and pointed out the round transparasteel window. “Look.” She didn’t have to because the Y-wing that flew by told them just as much as the blaster fire exploding around them.

They had dropped into the middle of a battle.


	14. Chapter 14

In the cockpit, Siri and Jims were trying to get them out of the battle. While Jims was also making sure that everyone in the back was alright they steered the ship back and forth, dodging asteroids, cannon bolts and other ships, until Siri parked them safely behind the large Republic ship space station that was a good distance away from the ongoing space battle. R3, who had fallen over when their ship dropped out of hyperspace, used the movement of the ship to right himself and rolled out of the cockpit to start working on the hyperdrive.

Siri sat back and rubbed her forehead. “That went well,” Jims drawled. “Now what do we do?” A message came through on a Republic channel and Jims jumped back into action. He gave their identification and got permission to land inside the station they were cowering behind. The doors to Bay Three were opened and they just managed to squeeze their ship inside.

Just as they were landing in the bay, the battle outside came to an end. Gold Squadron returned to the station, minus several Y-wings and one astromech droid. Ahsoka was the first one in the station to meet them.

“Are you alright, Master? What happened when we lost sight of you?”

Anakin took off his helmet and raked his fingers through his hair. “We lost Artoo.”

“Oh no!” Ahsoka

“Yeah.” Anakin and Ahsoka stepped out of the landing bay and began walking towards the control room. “What happened to that ship?”

“Which ship, Master?”

“The one that I nearly ran into.”

“It’s in Bay Three.” Ahsoka stepped to the side so that a wounded clone could pass them. “Don’t worry they’re from the Republic, the Temple actually.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “The Temple? We weren’t expecting anyone.” He made a quick decision and changed direction to go to Bay Three. Ahsoka followed him without even blinking. “Did they say why they’re here?”

“Their hyperdrive died.” Of course it did. Someone had to invent something that stopped the hyperdrive from always being the first thing to go.

As they approached Bay Three, Anakin and Ahsoka began sensing three familiar Force-presences, one that was very familiar for Anakin. _Is it?_ Ahsoka asked. Anakin nodded.

When they turned into Bay Three they saw Anne and Barr’k coaxing seven shaken younglings out of a bolt-marked ship with the help of three clone troopers. _Hello, GL. What brings you here?_

_Hyperdrive, Skyguy. What else?_ “Hello, Anakin,” Anne said out loud. “Hello, Snips.”

“Hi, GL.” Ahsoka looked at the younglings gathered around Anne’s legs and the baby Zabrak she was cradling in her arms. “Hi, Barr’k. Why all the little ones?”

Barr’k grimaced. “The Council sent us to the Outer Rim to collect Force-sensitives. We got attacked on Dantooine.”

“Well, obviously you can stay as long as you need to.” Anakin nodded towards their ship. “That doesn’t look like it’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

“The ship is fine, General Skywalker,” one of the clones protested. “It’s just the hyperdrive.”

The Zabrak Anne was carrying squirmed and suddenly began to cry. Everyone else in the bay turned from whatever they were doing and stared at the wailing child. “Now she cries,” Anne lamented. She began shushing the baby and walking around as best she could with a huddle of younglings crowding her legs. _Are you going to talk to any of the Councillors right now?_

_Yes, unless you need help here?_ Anakin looked at the younglings sticking to Anne like they’d been dipped in honey.

_We’ll manage. Take Barr’k with you? He can ask them if they can send another ship to get the younglings out of here._

_I’ll do that._ “Barr’k, come with us. You can talk to Master Yoda and Obi-Wan, maybe get them to send a ship to take you home.”

Barr’k nodded. “Yes, Master Skywalker.”

“I’m not your Master, Barr’k,” Anakin corrected. “Is Siri alright?”

“She’s working on the hyperdrive,” Barr’k said.

_Get going, love. You know how Obi-Wan worries, he won’t like waiting._

_I have to tell him that we lost R2,_ Anakin admitted. Anne raised an eyebrow slightly.

_All the more reason not to keep him waiting._

As Anakin, Ahsoka, and Barr’k headed to the control room, Anne and her herd of younglings went over to one of the clones they’d been traveling with. “Codes, do you think you could make something for me?”

“Probably. It depends on what it is.”

“Well…”

* * *

In the control room, Anakin was just managing not to wince or roll his eyes as Obi-Wan tore into him with his disapproving voice. “You have never erased that droid’s mission memory. Anakin, what were you thinking?”

Ahsoka spoke up to defend her Master. “Master Kenobi, sometimes Artoo having that extra information has come in useful. It’s gotten us out of a lot of tight spots.”

“Tight spots Anakin has gotten you into, I’d wager.” Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Anakin, you have to find that droid.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Get going then. A replacement astomech will be sent to you shortly.”

Anakin nodded. He and Ahsoka headed out of the room to get ready.

“Padawan Roux, unfortunately there aren’t any ships to bring you home right now. Someone will call you if one becomes available,” Obi-Wan said.

Barr’k bowed. “Thank you, Master Kenobi.”

“May the Force be with you, Padawan.”

“And with you, Master.” Obi-Wan nodded and the holocom flickered off. Barr’k turned around and had just walked out of the control room when he realized that he had no idea where he was. Well, he knew where he was but he didn’t know how he got there or how to get back to Bay Three because every single hallway in the station looked the same, even though he hadn’t just been following Anakin and Ahsoka. He sighed and just started walking. The Force would lead him somewhere, or he could stop worrying about bothering people and just ask for directions.

* * *

Codes worked really fast. Fourth minutes after he’d left to find a work station he arrived back in Bay Three carrying a small bag, his fingers black with grease. He found Advisor Sparks sitting near the ramp of their ship with the younglings gathered around her, apparently telling them another story. Her eyes flicked towards him as he approached. “…and Rose Red married his brother. The end.” She got up and went over to Codes, leaving Niner to take care of the younglings. “Is that it, Codes?”

“Yes, mam.”

“That was fast,” she said, impressed. “You’re sure it will work?”

“Of course! All he has to do is stick it in the droid.”

Advisor Sparks nodded and then looked over his shoulder at someone behind him. “Well, it looks like you’re just in time.” She motioned for him to follow her and they went to meet General Skywalker as he entered the bay. Codes didn’t blink as Advisor Sparks gave him a quick kiss. Some of the older clones might not have been used to the Jedi being so much more lovey-dovey than they had been before, but the younger generation didn’t have anything to compare them to. “You’re heading out now?”

General Skywalker nodded. “Just waiting for my temporary replacement astromech.”

“Well, Codes has something that you might need.” Advisor Sparks stepped aside and let Codes present his work to the General. After he was finished, General Skywalker nodded.

“Thank you, Codes.” General Skywalker turned the device over in his hand before putting it back into its bag and tucking the bag in his pocket. “This is great work.”

“I hope you won’t have to use it, General,” Codes said.

“Still, it’s a good thing to have.” General Skywalker looked out into the hallway. “I think my temporary droid’s here.” He gave Advisor Sparks a swift kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon, with Artoo.”

“Look out for liars,” Advisor Sparks said lightly. General Skywalker nodded. One he had left Advisor Sparks turned to Codes. “I have to get back to the kids. Take a break, then you can see if Siri, Jims and R3 need any help.”

“Yes, Advisor. I don’t have to take a break though.”

Advisor Sparks shook her head. “You’ve been taking double shifts with the kids, Codes. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.” He thought she hadn’t. “Take a break, you need it.” Codes wanted to say something about how she wasn’t taking a break, but Advisor Sparks went back to their ship and sat with the younglings before he could start. He shook his head and went to get cleaned up before going to take a nap.

* * *

“There’s my ship.” Anakin steered towards the battered starfighter. As it rolled over he strained his eyes to see the place where R2 should have been. “Artoo’s gone.”

One of his men spoke over their headsets. “I think we’ve found something, General. Just look over that asteroid on your left.”

Anakin looked and immediately saw the hunk-of-junk ship trawling the asteroid field. “That’s just great.”

“Should we go see who it is, Master?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin turned their starfighter to head towards the giant junk ship. “Of course, Ahsoka. Let’s see if they have any astromechs for sale.”

“We’ll cover you, General.”

“Thanks, Mack.”

Anakin’s replacement droid beeped and flashed the lights. “Be quiet, Goldie,” Ahsoka hissed. “We don’t want them to know we’re coming.” The droid beeped again, loudly. The junk ship’s lights swept around and it began flying away from them.

“Great.” One epic chase and violent entrance later they were inside the junk ship bargaining with its owner. Anakin paid close attention to what the Force was saying to him and when the alien told him that, no, he didn’t have any astromech droids, alarm bells started ringing. “I think you have a pretty large inventory on this ship. Why don’t you check for us?”

“Ehh, I’m sure I don’t have any astromechs, mister. Not any new ones.”

“What about older ones?” Ahsoka asked. “We could work with an Artoo unit if we had to.”

The alien smirked. “What do you need an astromech so badly for anyway? Can’t the Republic just buy you more?”

“They’re not being built fast enough,” Anakin lied. “Could you please go check for us?”

“Fine, fine, if you want one so badly. Don’t be disappointed when I come back empty handed.” He waddled out of the room.

“He was lying, Master,” Ahsoka said as soon as he was gone.

“I know, Ahsoka.”

“We’re not really going to wait for him, are we?”

“Of course not, Ahsoka. Grab your new friend, and we’ll go look for ourselves.”

* * *

_This was a terrible idea, Master!_ Ahsoka ducked and the electrical staff that the stealth droid swung at her sailed over her head. Anakin gritted his teeth and parried the staff of the droid attacking him.

_Well, it’s not my fault that Stubby can’t do its job. Where is the little_ koochoo _?_

_By the wall, Master._

Anakin Force-pushed the stealth droid into a tower of empty shelves, cut the one sneaking up behind him in half with his lightsaber, and then jumped over a pile of stuff that had fallen off some of the shelves. “Where are you going, Stubby?” The R3 unit beeped. “Get back to the terminal and look for Artoo.” One thing that could be said about the junk ship, it had good record keeping.

Stubby beeped again. “What do you mean he’s not here? All you did was go into records and turn on the lights.”

“Master!” Anakin spun around at Ahsoka’s warning and brought up his lightsaber to block the attack from the droid he’d pushed into the shelves. He took half a step backwards and immediately fell over Stubby, who’d rolled away from the wall just in time to trip him. “Goldie!” _Are you alright, Master?_

_I’ll let you know when I’m done fighting for my life!_ Anakin grappled with the droid, coming close to losing his head more than once. Finally he managed to stab it in the area that could be called its chest and cut it in half vertically. A crash came from somewhere to his left. _Ahsoka, are you alright?_

_Yes, Master. I just knocked over half a speeder._

Anakin rubbed the back of his head and turned back to Stubby. “I didn’t want to do this…” In one motion he reached into the bag in his pocket and stabbed the durasteel diamond into the astromech’s body. Its lights flashed once and then the droid whistled at him questioningly. “Find out if Artoo Detoo is on this ship.”

Stubby beeped and wheeled over to the terminal. Just as Ahsoka emerged from the rows of shelves after dismantling the final stealth droid, Stubby whistled. “You found him?” Stubby beeped. “Where is he?” Stubby gave a rising whistle and wheeled away. Anakin and Ahsoka followed it to a hallway near where they had entered the ship. Stubby fiddled with a control pad and a few seconds later a compartment in the wall slid open, revealing R2-D2’s still form.

“Artooy?” R2 beeped and Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief. “Let’s get you out of there.”

Anakin and Ahsoka hoisted R2 out of the storage compartment and Anakin pried the restraining bolt off of his body. “How’s that, buddy?” R2 beeped and whistled. “No, I haven’t replaced you. Stubby here wasn’t even being helpful.” R2 gave a questioning whistle. “A program one of the clones made. You can ask him about it later.”

Ahsoka put a hand on top of R2’s dome. “Let’s go, Artoo. Master?”

Anakin nodded. “Let’s go.”

The ship’s owner was not happy when he found the R2 unit gone. General Grievous was going to kill him.


	15. Chapter 15

Not long after the whole adventure that came with picking up Force-sensitive younglings, Anne was sitting under a tree in the Room of a Thousand Fountains compiling information for the last stages of Operation Overload. Just a few more days and then maybe the whole war would be over, if Operation Overload worked as well as Operation Overlord. If it didn’t, well, she was the only person who’d taken history classes on Earth and they’d all be on the run anyway.

Anne typed points into her datapad. “Working hard or hardly working, are you?” She looked up at the two Jedi who were always working hard, not matter how it appeared to outsiders. “Walk with us, would you?”

Anne stood. “Master Yoda, is this really a good time for joking?”

Yoda tapped the ground with his cane. “When time is not good for joking, tell you I will.” He smiled. “Should be able to joke, or too scared we will have become.”

“That’s true.” Anne looked from Yoda to the face of Mace Windu, who was as serious as always. “Is there something I can do for you, Masters?”

“What are you doing in about an hour?” Master Windu asked. 

“I … don’t know.” She would probably be done with working on Operation Overload by then but she hadn’t planned the rest of her day just in case she wasn’t. “I might still be working.”

“Make time to teach a class, you could? Only half an hour, it would be.”

Anne stopped walking. “Teach, Master?”

Yoda nodded. “Need someone to teach younglings, we do. Few Masters, there are, with time to teach.”

“Master, I’m not a Jedi,” Anne said, as if either of the Council Jedi has forgotten that.

“It would just be a history lesson,” Windu assured her. “And an introduction to using the Force. You can manage that.”

Anne opened her mouth to protest again but then she sighed. She could handle a history lesson, and an introduction to using the Force, and it wasn’t like she’d be putting aside war work to teach it. “Alright, Masters. Which room am I in?”

An hour and a half later, Operation Overload information compiled, coded, encrypted and sent, Anne entered a classroom on the second floor of the Temple and settled in to wait for her class to arrive. The group of younglings that were led in by one of the crèche Masters included Tyaya and the Cerean boy who she and Siri had brought to the Temple. Tyaya waved to her and the boy began whispering to some of the other younglings.

“Please have a seat, younglings.” The younglings sat on the cushions spread on the floor, an arrangement apparently favoured by the Master who usually taught in the classroom. “I’m Miss Sparks. Since this is your first class outside of the crèche I would just like you to know that I am not your regular teacher. Master Urick will likely be back very soon but for today let’s get you through the first lesson he would normally teach you.”

One of the crèche-raised younglings the Cerean boy had been whispering to raised his hand. “Yes?”

“What do we call you?”

“Miss Sparks is fine.”

The boy radiated confusion. “But that’s your full name.”

Anne thought for a moment. “The word ‘Miss’ is a little bit like ‘Master’, it’s a title. Understand?” The boy nodded slowly. “Good.” Anne looked at the rest of her class. “Does anyone else have any questions before we begin?” The Cerean boy raised his hand. Anne nodded towards him. “Yes?”

“Aren’t you a Jedi?”

“No, Ri-Wan-Geam. I’m Force-sensitive, but I’m not a Jedi.” Ri-Wan-Geam’s face didn’t fall but his disappointment and feeling of betrayal was clearly projected in the Force. Anne blinked back a wince.

“But you had a lightsaber,” Ri-Wan-Geam said.

“That was borrowed from the Temple so that I would be able to protect all of you if it was needed.”

“How are you supposed to teach us if you’re not a Jedi?”

“The Force surrounds us all. I can sense it as well as any Jedi.” Anne raised her hand and levitated an empty cushion towards her. “And I can use it as much as I’ve been taught, which is enough for two years of learning.” She grabbed the cushion and looked around at her class again. “Any other questions?”

“No, Miss,” Tyaya said before Ri-Wan-Geam could say any more. Anne sat down in front of them one the cushion and Tyaya had a flashback to a few days before when Miss Sparks had been sitting with the younglings she’d come to the Temple with to tell them stories. She leaned forward eagerly.

“Then let’s start. What do you want to learn about first, the Force, or the Order?”

After her demonstration, something they had never seen in the crèche because the crèche Masters had a lot more self-control, all the younglings agreed, “The Force!”

Anne smiled. “Alright then. The Force is part of all living things. It surrounds us, joins us together, and makes us who we are. Where there isn’t the Force there is the Void. The Void is emptiness, and it shows that without the Force true life cannot exist. The old Je'daii Order saw two sides to the Force, the Light and the Dark, and that’s what we do now. As Jedi you will learn to follow the will of the Force and use the Light Side.” Tyaya raised her hand. “Yes, Tyaya?”

“What about the Dark Side? Won’t we use that too?”

The younglings who’d been raised in the crèche understandably inched away from her. A few of them looked at Anne like they expected her to scold the older Human girl who’d been dropped among them a few days ago.

“The Jedi in the Order do not use the Dark Side, Tyaya.” Anne’s eyelids flickered briefly as, for the first time in months, the image of Anakin with the yellow eyes of a Sith flashed in her mind. “Jedi are calm and rational, they don’t let themselves be controlled by their emotions. People who use the Dark Side do. They get power from anger and fear and pain, and that makes them do horrible things if they use it too much.” She opened her eyes and looked at the girl. “It is possible to use the Dark Side without giving in to it, but it’s dangerous. It’s very easy to fall completely, and you do not want to do that.”

“What happens if you fall?” Tyaya asked in a small voice. Miss Spark’s eyes had become sad as she answered her question but she really wanted to know.

“You become a Sith.” The word sent shivers down the spines of all of the younglings. No one wanted to ask what a Sith was, even though they didn’t know. They all did know that they didn’t want to become one. “Is that all, Tyaya?”

Tyaya swallowed. “Yes, Miss.”

“All of you are here because you can sense the Force, even if you can tell when you do. If you’ve ever know something was going to happen before it did, or even ‘luckily’ moved in the right direction, then you’ve listened what the Force was telling you. That is what you’ll have to do to be a Jedi.”

* * *

A few hours after Anne finished teaching her class a meeting of the Senate began. Senator Amidala and the rest of the representatives from Naboo were sitting in their pod waiting for Senator Organa to finish speaking about the need for more aid in the Outer Rim. In an alcove above them, as was not uncommon, Masters Yoda and Windu of the Jedi Council sat and watched the meeting.

When Senator Organa took his seat the usual heated debate over what he had said was set to begin, but Senator Amidala surprised everyone by being the first to stand. “Senator Organa makes good points, but wouldn’t aid not be needed if the war was over?” The entire Senate murmured. “I believe that if we take care of the root of the problem the Separatists would be willing to negotiate, and then we could bring aid to the Outer Rim without there being any danger.”

“How do you suggest we accomplish this, Senator Amidala?” Chancellor Palpatine asked.

Padmé held her hand out and Dormé handed her a datapad. She didn’t need it, but she made a show of scrolling through notes before speaking. “The Jedi have been working on an investigation into the man responsible for starting this war. They have discovered that he is _very_ powerful in the Dark Side of the Force, they even call him a ‘Sith’. He’s been pulling the strings from the very beginning, and now they know exactly where he is.”

“They know where Count Dooku is?” Chancellor Palpatine asked with his eyes widening. “That’s excellent. When did they find this out?”

“I am not talking about Dooku, Chancellor. I am talking about Darth Sidous,” Padmé said.

Chancellor Palpatine raised an eyebrow. “The man Count Dooku mentioned when he was captured?”

“Yes, Chancellor. The man no one has ever been able to fine, because he’s been under our noses this entire time. You.” 

Pandemonium. It wasn’t until Senator Organa shouted “Shut up and sit down!” and shocked everyone into silence that Padmé could continue.

“In the past seventeen months you have sent thirty-five messages to locations using Separatist codes. Three Jedi can confirm that you use the Dark Side. Chancellor, do you deny that you are Darth Sidous?”

“Of course I do,” Chancellor Palpatine said in an affronted tone. “These are baseless accusations, Senator Amidala, and I am shocked that you of all people would listen to them.”

“There’s evidence.” Padmé looked around at all of the other senators and representatives. “Multiple recordings, and this Senate agreed four months ago that evidence gathered though the Force would be given consideration.” Once again murmurs ran through the Senate. Looks were sent towards Chancellor Palpatine that were blatantly mistrusting, some of them hostile.

Chancellor Pal—Forget it. Darth Sidious knew when he was beaten. Sewing dissent was one thing he was an expert in, and Senator Amidala had pulled it off perfectly. No amount of Force-suggesting would make the Senate trust him again, even if he did manage to get the accusations disproven, so he decided to run for it. He called it cutting his losses, which may or may not have been accurate. It was hard to tell with Sith.

Before anyone could stop him he leapt from his pod and fell quite gracefully to the floor far below. Master Windu paused to speak into his comlink before he and Yoda jumped, from out of nowhere it seemed to the Senate, and prepared to chase after the Sith lord.

“Work together, we must,” Yoda reminded Mace as they fell. “Otherwise no chance, we have.” But the reminder was unnecessary, and not just because Mace already knew that any attempt to take a Sith lord alone was destined to fail. By the time they reached the ground Darth Sidious had disappeared.


	16. Chapter 16

Anakin arrived at the spot in the Room of a Thousand Fountains where the wedding was going to take place with a scowl on his face. “Dooku still won’t talk?” Anne asked as she moved the last pot of flowers creating the aisle into place. Anakin nodded. _Well, stop scowling. Obi-Wan’s coming._ Anakin managed to force his face into a neutral expression just as Obi-Wan emerged from behind a tree that he and Garen were decorating with the tiny bells that Padmé had sent them since she couldn’t be there for the actual ceremony.

“Good morning, Father.”

Obi-Wan smiled. “Hello, Anakin. Come to help at last?”

“Should you even be working?” Anakin walked over and took the box of bells from his father’s hands, holding it up so the impatient Garen could reach into it without falling from the ladder he was standing on. “Aren’t you supposed to relax today?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “I have to do something, or I’m going to go crazy.” Anne handed him a roll of ribbon and told him to wrap it around the tree before he could start pacing.

“I don’t know what you’re so nervous about,” Garen commented. “You’re getting married to Siri. The two of you have been in love since we were Initiates. She’s not going to leave you at the altar. Probably. ”

“Thank you so much for those words of encouragement,” Obi-Wan deadpanned.

Anakin smiled slightly. “Lighten up, Father.”

Garen laughed. “I’ve been telling him that for years!”

By the time the first guests began to arrive all the decorations were up and Obi-Wan had gotten more relaxed. When Dex, who had closed his diner for the first time in fifteen years so that he could come to his friend’s wedding, jokingly asked Obi-Wan if he would show him around the Temple before the ceremony Obi-Wan smiled and reminded him that he couldn’t be late for his own wedding.

There were only a handful of people coming from outside the Temple but it was still more outsiders than had ever been there before. Most of them were looking around with complete awe at the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and others were talking about the parts of the building they had walked through to get there. Anne mentally added “tours of the Temple” to her list of suggestions for a better relationship with the public.

Once everyone had arrived and been ushered into the areas either side of the makeshift aisle by Anakin and Anne, Master Windu went to stand under the two bell-adored trees at the end of the aisle with Obi-Wan standing beside him. A few seconds later Bant ducked in and motioned for the three musicians to start playing. Obi-Wan swallowed and straightened his tunic.

The wind started blowing just as Siri began walking down the aisle. The tinkling of bells and rustling of leaves was added to the music, which was almost drowned out by the cheers of the guests. Siri smiled nervously at Obi-Wan as she walked to the front. _We could still run away and get married on Alderaan._

Obi-Wan smiled back. _Mace would never forgive us._

Master Windu cleared his throat and the cheering and music stopped. “Friends, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi. Should anyone have any reason for these two not to be joined in matrimony, please speak now,” he paused for a second. “Siri insisted that I skip ahead, so, assuming that you both agree, I now pronounce you wife and husband.” He looked sideways at Obi-Wan, who nodded. “You may now kiss the bride.”

Obi-Wan did, and gave his kiss with his heart on his lips. Siri returned the kiss and then took her husband’s hand in her own and raised their arms above their heads. They turned to face their group of friends. “We’re married!”

The shortness of the ceremony confused a lot of people but Anakin and Barr’k started the cheering again, with Anne and Bant following closely after. There was a popping sound as the timers on the bobbles Anakin had put in the trees ran out and the elated couple was showered in flower petals. Then everyone began clapping and cheering and the group surged forwards to give hugs and claps on the back. 

Anakin and Anne cleared the flower pots out of the way with waves of their hands, Anakin grinning at Obi-Wan and Master Windu as they did, and the real celebration began. Padmé arrived halfway through the second song and was immediately dragged onto the dance floor by Anakin and Anne.

“So, who’s the new Chancellor?” Anakin whispered conspiratorially. The official announcement wouldn’t come until tomorrow but, since Padmé was there, the vote had been completed.

Padmé smiled. “Bail Organa.”

Anne clapped her hands together once. “That’s great! How many people voted for you?”

Padmé laughed. “Everyone! I don’t want to be Chancellor though. I’m hardly home as it is.”

Their conversation was interrupted while Bant led the entire group in a three minute long circle dance around the newlyweds and Tyaya caused a commotion by dropping in uninvited with her entire crèche group.

When they were drifting back into small groups Padmé asked, “Any luck with finding Sidous?”

Anne shook her head and Anakin’s scowl reappeared. “Nothing,” Anakin said. “If Dooku knows where his Master would go, he’s not talking. We’ve been interrogating him since we captured him last week. ”

“I think I’m going to try to talk to him,” Anne mused. “It’s safe enough, and it can’t hurt to try, right?” 

“Only if I come with you.” Anakin gave Anne a serious look that killed any protests she might have had. “Dooku may be locked up and under Force dampers, but he’s still a Sith.”

“Fine,” Anne agreed. “We’ll go today.”

“Go where today?” Obi-Wan asked as he walked up to them. “Hello, Senator Amidala. How did the vote go?”

“Fairly. Congratulations, Master Kenobi. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here for the ceremony.”

Obi-Wan smiled at her. His nervousness of a few hours before was completely gone. “That’s all right, Senator, duty comes first.”

“Thank you for understanding, Master Kenobi. Some people just can’t wrap their head around that.” She was totally not talking about Anakin.

Anakin looked between his former Master and his best friend. “You two have known each other for two years. Are you ever going to start calling each other by your names?”

Obi-Wan and Padmé looked at each other. “Probably not,” Obi-Wan admitted. “Now, where was it that you were going today?”

“Anne—” Anakin started.

“—wants to visit Count Dooku.” Anne bit her lip. “Or should we call him Darth Tyrantus?”

Obi-Wan snorted. “Does it matter? He’s the same person no matter what we call him.”

“Actually—” Anakin was cut off by the arrival of Siri, who was smiling so widely that it made everyone’s cheeks hurt just to look at her.

“Thank you so much for leaving me to talk to Master Windu by myself, love,” Siri said sweetly through clenched teeth.

Obi-Wan smiled back at her with his eyes shining. “Well, you did arrange the whole ceremony with him so I didn’t think you’d mind, honey.”

Anakin looked between the couple, who was now paying absolutely no attention to anything around them except for each other. _Were we ever like this?_

Anne gave a half smile. _They did just get married._

The celebrations went almost into the afternoon. Over that time Master Yoda and several other councillors who hadn’t been present for the ceremony dropped by to offer their congratulations. Once the party finally broke up Anakin and Anne said goodbye to Padmé, who was going back to the Senate building to work with other senators on the treaty with the Separatists, and got ready to head down to the cells to talk with Dooku. When Anakin went to pick Anne up from her rooms he found her giving last minute instructions to R3.

“…and you know what to do with Recording 3?” R3 beeped assent.

“Are you ready to go?”

Anne stood up and brushed off her knees. R3 rolled away and settled in one corner where he could watch the door. “Yes.”

“Do you have your blaster?”

Anne reached around her back and tapped the weapon hidden under her tunic. “Of course.” The blaster had been a gift from Padmé, who had thankfully also included lessons so Anne’s aim was no longer worse than a Stormtrooper’s. “Are you ready to go?”

Anakin grimaced. Anne nodded in understanding. He had been down to the cells to visit Dooku every day since they captured him and, when he wasn’t frustrated as hell, he was getting tired of it. “Let’s see if you can get something out of him.”

The cells under the Jedi Temple hadn’t been used for years. They were originally built to hold “political prisoners” aka Sith during the Great Hyperspace War and had survived the destruction of the Temple during the Great Galactic War. Anne shivered as they entered the hallway. Each cell was fitted with Force dampening shackles and had mild shields around it that, in combination with the shackles, stopped the occupant from being able to do more than faintly sense the Force. They weren’t cut off from the Force completely, that would be torture, but they wouldn’t be able to call for help or use the Force to escape, even if they were as powerful as Master Yoda. Unfortunately, the shields also dampened the Force for anyone visiting the cells, so being down there was unpleasant for everyone involved.

It was easy to see which cell Dooku was in because it was the only one that was guarded. “You’re here to visit the prisoner _again_?” one of the clone guards asked with a groan. “Don’t you do anything else?”

“It’s not for me this time.” Anakin shuffled to the side so that the guards could see Anne standing behind him. “She wants to talk to him.”

“Are you sure, because Master Yoda said to stop letting you in,” one of the two Jedi guards joked. He typed a code into the keypad next to the door to Dooku’s cell. A pinprick of blue light appeared above the keypad. They all budged over until Anne could stand in front of the keypad for her eye to be scanned. The light turned green as she was recognized as being on the list of people allowed into the cell. “You’re all clear.” They shuffled around again so that Anakin’s eye could be scanned, just for procedure’s sake, and then the two of them moved out of the cramped hallway into the hollow in the wall that held the door.

Anakin slid aside the metal plate that covered the round window in the door and peaked into the cell. “He’s sitting down.” He opened the door and Dooku opened his eyes to see who it was. When he saw Anakin’s face he rolled his eyes and went back to his quasi meditation. “Hello again, Dooku.”

“Hello, Anakin,” Dooku said, not opening his eyes. “Come to bother me again?”

“Actually, I have,” Anne said. Dooku’s eyes opened and he studied his new visitor. “I have a few questions for you, Count Dooku. Or would you rather be called Darth Tyrantus?”

Dooku had no trouble at all with hiding his surprise. “Where did a nice woman like you hear that name?”

“Around.” Anne crossed her arms and stared down the Sith. “Your Master used it, one or twice. I wonder why he hasn’t come for you yet.”

“That’s easy,” Anakin scoffed. “He knows he can’t stand against the Jedi. That’s why he ran away.” 

“My Master is far more powerful than any Jedi.” Dooku closed his eyes again. “He’ll be here when you least expect it, you don’t have to go looking for him.”

_This is more than he’s ever talked to me._ Anakin’s though came over their Force bond in a whisper. Anne laughed.

“That’s funny.” Anne rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s going to come to us. We’ve got you locked up here, nice and safe. The real question is if we’ll get to him before or after he kills you.”

“Kill me,” Dooku said slowly. “Why would he kill me?” Anne shrugged even though he couldn’t see her.

“He _was_ always planning to replace you, and betrayal is the way of the Sith, correct?” Anne turned around. “Have fun with your meditating.”

“See you later, Darth,” Anakin said.

Dooku opened his eyes just in time to see Anakin’s back leaving the room. The soundproof door slid closed behind the young Jedi. “Replace me?” He took a breath and tried to smile. “He wouldn’t replace me. Perhaps I would replace him.” He began trying to meditate again but the woman’s words continued turning in his mind. Betrayal _was_ the way of the Sith, and he was in the perfect position to make use of it.

* * *

Anakin’s first though when they left Dooku’s cell was that the hallway was too quiet. Usually the four clone guards would be talking among themselves and the two Jedi would either be complaining about being on guard duty or having some sort of deep, philosophical debate, depending on who they were.

Then he heard Anne scream. He turned around to see her being restrained by one of the clone guards, who had jumped out at her as soon as she was out in the hallway proper. Anakin was hit from behind and he wasn’t paying too attention to Anne anymore because he was too busy fighting off the other two clones.

The narrow hallway was no place for a fight. The clones mostly grappled with him hand-to-hand because a blaster bolt would just end up ricocheting and hitting one of them. Anne used the strongest Force-push she could to send the clone holding her flying backwards, wrenching her arms horribly. The clone fell to the ground after slipping on a metal cylinder that then went rolling towards Anne, who spared it a quick glance.

It was a lightsaber. She looked past the clone she had pushed and saw the bodies of the two Jedi guards crumpled against the wall. The shadow looming behind them had her drawing her blaster. _Anakin!_

Anakin’s own lightsaber flashed as he deflected a blaster bolt past the clones and down the hall. Anne’s feeling had him reaching out with the Force and recoiling from the darkness he sensed. He pushed himself to reach out again. _Father! The cells—_

Obi-Wan let out a yell when Anakin’s thought were abruptly cut off. He grabbed his lightsaber from his belt and jumped off of the couch. His wife put aside the datapad they’d been looking at. “Obi, what’s wrong?”

“Anakin’s in trouble.” He looked at Siri, his eyes wide with terror. “Sidious is here.”


	17. Chapter 17

Anakin forced open his eyes. The light was dim, actually, it was nonexistent except for a silver passing through a gap under the door, but when he lifted his head he could just make out Anne’s still form on the floor beside him. He reached out over their Force bond and was relieved to fine that she was still alive. _Anne?_ Anne stirred.

_I’m awake._ She blinked and felt her cheek scrape against a rough surface. _Where are we?_

_I don’t know_. Anakin sat up slowly. His head spun and he put a hand out to steady himself. Neither of them were wearing any restraints, which was a good sign, but their weapons were long gone. Even if they had to they wouldn’t be able to fight their way out.

_It’s dark._ Anne shivered. _And Dark._ Anakin carefully made his way over to her and put his flesh and blood hand on her arm. She sat up and he held her while he reached out with the Force. He found five people inside whatever building they were in other than them but when he reached outside the building he came up against a blank wall. He poked it, trying to break through without letting Sidious know that he was, but none of his prods found a single crack to squeeze through.

_Sidious has us boxed in._ Anakin sensed fear building in Anne. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest as she tried to block out the Dark Side and ignore the darkness. After taking a few calming breaths that did not help to squash her rising fear she suggested trying the door. _We have no weapons and no idea what we’d be walking into,_ Anakin pointed out.

_You’re right. So…we just wait?_

_Yes._

They waited. Anne was becoming more and more scared, so much so that she wasn’t able to stop herself from broadcasting her fear. About five minutes after Anne started practically screaming in the Force, the four people who weren’t Sidious came towards the room they were in. Anakin recognized them as the four clones that had been guarding Dooku’s cell.

The door opened and two of the clones came into the room. “You have to come with us, General Skywalker, Miss Sparks. Darth Sidious wants to see you.”

“Wh…why are you doing this, Niner?” Anne asked.

The clone who had spoken shook his head. “We have no choice, Miss. Please don’t fight us, Sidious ordered us to bring you using any means necessary.”

“We’re coming.” Anakin helped Anne to her feet and they walked out of the room to where the other two clones were waiting. The hallway was brighter than the room with a light source on the ceiling every few feet. Anne gradually began to calm down as the clones escorted them through the hallways. By the time they reached the large, open room where Sidious was waiting she was back to her rational self.

_I think we’re still on_ _Coruscant,_ she whispered. _In an office building._ That information wasn’t going to be useful while facing Sidious, but it could be helpful later. If they survived.

Sidious was sitting in the middle of the room in a metal chair that was attached to the floor. He wasn’t wearing the Naboo finery that he’d been dressed in when he escaped from the Senate building but a hooded black robe that immediately had Anne thinking of him as the Emperor.

“Welcome, Anakin. It’s been too long.”

Anakin successfully kept his expression neutral even though his anger at seeing the man who would have turned him to the Dark Side and destroyed the Galaxy threatened to be too much for him to keep down. “What do you want, Sidious?”

The Sith smiled. “I want you to help me, Anakin. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We are not friends, Sith, and I’ll never help you.”

“You will.” Sidous’ eyes drifted from Anakin’s face to look at Anne. “You’re a Jedi, and Jedi always help people when it helps them.”

Anakin stiffened. “No.”

Sidious’ smile grew. “I feel your anger, Anakin. Give into it. Join me, and together we will rule the Galaxy.”

“I don’t want to rule the Galaxy,” Anakin said through gritted teeth.

“You always talk about how you want to make it safer, better. We can do that, together,” Sidious said.

“He will never join you,” Anne stated confidently. “You’re wasting your time.”

“Pity.” Sidious spoke to the clone troopers. “Hold him.” Two of the clones grabbed Anakin and held him tightly as Sidious held out one hand. Electricity arched through the air.

Anne screamed. She crumbled to the floor when Sidious stopped the Force lightning and her muscles were no longer paralyzed. _Anne!_

_I’m fine, Skyguy._ She took some much-needed breaths. _Don’t give in._

Anakin wanted to escape from the grasp of the clones and strangle Sidious with his bare hands, but the lightsaber at the Sith’s side would have put a quick end to that. “Don’t hurt her! This is between you and me.”

“Decide, Anakin.” Sidious raised his hand again. “Will you join me?”

“I would die first!”

“But would you let her die?”

Anne gave a laughing cough.“You won’t have anything to hang over his head if you kill me,” she slurred sensibly.

Sidious raised his eyebrows and Anne began screaming again as he let loose more electricity. “Choose, Anakin, choose.”

* * *

Obi-Wan wanted to scream. Two Jedi were dead and Anakin, Anne and four clones were missing, but Master Yoda insisted that he come with him to talk to Dooku. He wanted to be out looking for his son, not in the Force stifling cell under the Temple with the man who was a mine of information but refused to talk.

Yoda hit Obi-Wan’s ankle with his walking stick. “Calm, you must be, or no help to your son, you are.” Five nervous clones let them into the cell.

Dooku looked up when they entered. “More visitors. Today must be my lucky day.”

“Where is Sidous?” Obi-Wan growled. Yoda brandished his walking stick in warning.

Dooku raised an eyebrow. “Do you want an exact location or an educated guess?”

“Tell us your best guess, you will,” Yoda said sternly. “In your best interest, it is, my fallen apprentice.”

Dooku chuckled. “Not fallen, _Master_ Yoda, wiser.” He sat back on the narrow sleep couch. “I will tell you what I know.”

Obi-Wan’s head had cleared enough for him to realize how out of character Dooku was being. “What changed your mind?” he asked suspiciously.

Dooku huffed. “Does it matter? Do you want to find my master or not?”

At that moment Obi-Wan wanted to find his son more than he wanted to find Sidious, but since finding one was going to be the same as finding the other he stayed standing in front of Dooku with his arms crossed rather than marching out the door. “Talk.”


	18. Chapter 18

There’s nothing like continually being electrocuted to cure nyctophobia. Well not cure exactly, but replace a crippling fear of the dark with an equally crippling fear of being electrocuted. Dreaming about plugging in a toaster sent Anne’s heart racing and the flash of lightning was enough to scare her awake. 

Anakin loosened his grip around Anne as her eyes finally fluttered open. _How are you?_ he asked anxiously.

Anne blinked. _I’m fine. I think. What happened?_

_You passed out._ Anakin shifted so that Anne could sit up. _Sidious had us taken away when you stopped screaming._ He squeezed his eyes closed. _I can’t keep watching that, Anne. Please._

Anne clutched limply at the front of his tunic. _No. You won’t fall, not for me. I won’t let you._

Anakin put his hand over her’s. _Anne, he will kill you. Not on purpose, but if this goes on much longer, he will._

_We’ll come up with something. It’s not like we’ve told him exactly how he can take over the Galaxy. We’re not expendable yet. And Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan is looking for you._ She was really grasping at straws. The building they were in hid them completely in the Force, Sidious had so kindly let them know that there was no way in or out. The chances of any Jedi finding them were slim to none. _If I could just think!_

Anakin kissed her gently. _You’re doing your best, we both are._

_But it’s not enough. It’s like everything I know is locked up or erased and I can’t make any useful connections…_

_What?_ Anakin asked when she didn’t continue. _What is it?_ Anne turned her idea over in her head. It sounded crazy to her, but she wasn’t really a good judge of that anymore.

_What if we could lock up everything that makes it dangerous for you to fall,_ she thought slowly, _and erased whatever it is in the clones’ minds that make them have to obey Sidious?_ She had seen a TV show that did something like that once, with a clone. She couldn’t quite remember which show it was though.

Anakin’s brow furrowed. _How would we—Can the Force do that?_

_We’re talking to each other with our minds._

_Point taken._ Anakin worried at the Force-wall for a moment. _Let’s try it._

_“Do, or do not. There is no try.”_ With that they settled down to add flesh and blood to their skeleton of a plan.

* * *

The Galaxy was huge, so Dooku’s firm statement that Sidious wouldn’t have left Coruscant was a welcome one for the Jedi and clone troopers searching for their missing family. The planet though was plenty big enough on its own and it would take a long time to completely comb its surface and underground. While she was on her break from the search, Bant headed up to Anne’s rooms to see if her fingerling had any information tucked away that would help them find her. When the door slid open Anne’s R3 astromech droid rolled towards Bant, beeping insistently. “What is it, Arthree?”

R3 beeped again. “Anne isn’t here,” Bant said. “Sidious has taken her and Anakin.” R3 made a noise of alarm. “Do you have anything that we could use to help her?”

R3 gave a rising whistle. He rolled back and projected a hologram on the floor in front of him. Anne’s blue face looked at Bant. “Bant, if you’re watching this then R3 has decided that something bad has happened. I’m really sorry for dying, if that’s what it was. If they are alive and you can find them you need to get Obi-Wan and Master Yoda to watch this with you. If they are not able to then tell R3 and he will continue the recording.” The hologram paused and R3 beeped questioningly.

“I’ll go get them now, Arthree. Wait here.” The astormech waited obediently as the Mon Calamarian rushed around the Temple, finding Master Yoda, then Obi-Wan and picking up an extra Jedi on the way.

Obi-Wan paused in the doorway when he saw the foot tall holographic form of the woman he fully expected to eventually be calling his daughter-in-law looking at them with her ‘absolutely serious’ face. His wife nudged him into the room and they all gathered around R3. “Well?” Siri asked after closing the door behind her.

The hologram flickered before it resumed playing. “Master Yoda, Obi-Wan, hopefully Bant, Siri, and Master Windu as well, if you’re watching this then R3 has decided that the Galaxy has fallen to the Sith or is very likely to fall soon. If the Temple is still standing then you must start preparing to evacuate but if the rest of the Order has been killed then all of you who are alive must go into hiding.”

Here holographic-Anne closed her eyes for a moment. “If Darth Sidious has succeeded in turning Anakin then he is no longer the person you know and love. If you face him he will not hesitate to kill you. Obi-Wan, I’m talking to you. Darth…Vader is not Anakin Skywalker. I’m sorry.”

She squeezed her eyes shut again. “If Anakin has fallen then by the time you watch this I will be dead, going by the movies. Anyone who doesn’t know what I mean by that can ask Obi-Wan or Master Yoda. Assuming what we changed was for nothing you can trust Bail Organa of Alderaan and Beru and Owen Lars of Tatooine, and Padmé Amidala if she’s still alive. Assuming that the ending is the same then you can trust these same people to take care of my children.” She looked up at them with determination in her eyes. “You will find more detailed information in R3’s memory. The password is ‘pour la fin de l'empire’. Take care of yourselves, keep hope alive, and may the Force be with you.”

The hologram disappeared. All of the organic life forms in the room turned to look at Obi-Wan, in various stages of shock. All except for Master Yoda, who was thinking deeply. “Obi?” Siri prompted hoarsely.

Obi-Wan sighed. “It’s a long story.”


	19. Chapter 19

Niner opened the door, balancing a tray of slop in one hand. It wasn’t special “food” for the “prisoners”, they were all eating the same stockpiled rations. It wasn’t like they could go out and buy food. In fact the clones were under orders not to leave the building. Niner looked around the room and saw General Skywalker and Advisor Sparks huddled in one corner, fast asleep. He coughed once, twice, three times. That would normally be more than enough to wake them up but neither of them stirred.

“General!”

Genaral Skywalker slowly opened his eyes. He put a finger to his lips and motioned for Niner to just put down the tray. Then he closed his eyes again. Niner just hovered by the door awkwardly for a few more minutes before Advisor Sparks yawned.

“Is it morning already, Niner?” she asked.

“Yes, Miss.”

The Advisor stretched and elbowed the General, who pretended to snore.

“You’re not asleep, Anakin.” Anne opened her eyes and looked up at Niner.“Sidious doesn’t want to see us already, does he?”

Niner flinched. “No, Miss. I just brought breakfast.”

General Skywalker and Advisor Sparks got up slowly like they were coming out of hibernation. General Skywalker walked over to Niner and took the bowls of mush he was still holding. “Niner, what’s the first thing Sidious says to you every morning?”

Niner blinked. “Pardon me, General?” That was an oddly specific question to ask.

“What’s the first thing Sidious says to all of the clones in the morning?” Anakin repeated.

“Uh…” Niner thought back. “‘Black star’, I think. Why do you want to know, General?”

Anakin swallowed his spoonful of breakfast goop. “We’ve been prisoners together for a week, Niner, you can call me Anakin.”

“Anakin. Why do you want to know?” Niner asked again.

Advisor Sparks answered him. “We think we know how he’s controlling you.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “‘We’?”

Advisor Sparks sighed. “Fine, it’s my sleep-deprived idea. May I try something? It’s not dangerous, probably.”

“Miss, we’ve been locked up here long enough that I’d let you try anything if you thought it would give us back control,” Niner said. “And get us out of here?”

“We can hope. Do I have your permission?” Niner nodded. Advisor Sparks closed her eyes and he was suddenly the first clone trooper to have the bewildering experience of standing inside his own mind. _Don’t panic._ He looked around and saw Advisor Sparks standing beside him. _I just want to have a look around._

“What are you looking for?”

Advisor Sparks looked at him and then pointed to her head. _Think, don’t speak._

_What are you looking for?_ Niner asked again.

_Black star._ _Come on._

They walked through the mental landscape, passing parked ships and silent droids. Niner slowly began to recognize where they were, the landing bay in the space station he his unit had been based in for most of the war. Codes was an invaluable asset when it came to programming and scrambling communication codes and the rest of them were some of the greatest fliers to come out of Kamino, not to brag or anything. Some of his best memories came from spending his break time with Captain Jims or one of his other brothers, debating battle tactics or just joking around.

They went deeper into the station. The walls around them started to become warped and objects came in sizes that weren’t the norm. _What’s happening?_

_I don’t know. You have a chip implanted in your brain, maybe it’s causing this._

He had a _what_ implanted in his brain? He looked at Advisor Sparks, his eyes wide.

_Oh, right. You don’t know about that._

_There’s a chip in my brain_ why _?_

Advisor Sparks looked embarrassed. _So that the Sith could activate an order for you to kill the Jedi. All clones have them, but that that order was erased. Note to self, release that information to the rest of the clone troopers._

_An order to_ what _?!_

Advisor Sparks’ eyes darted around the hallway. _Later. We’re getting close._

Niner wasn’t sure how she knew where they were, let alone that they were close to their goal, but after a few more steps he was able to tell. The temperature of the air around them dropped (he wasn’t even going to bother trying to figure out how) and the walls began freezing over.

Advisor Sparks stopped when they reached a set heavy metal doors that were completely frozen shut. _Get your blaster ready, Niner._

He did, though he didn’t remember having his weapon with him before. Advisor Sparks raised her hands and pried the doors open using the Force (again, he didn’t bother trying to figure out how that worked). Niner stepped through first and immediately came face to face with…himself.

The other Niner was suspended from the ceiling in a black bubble crackling with a type of electricity that Niner had become well acquainted with in the past five days, Sith lightning. The other Niner was hanging limply from a set of restraints inside the bubble, his eyes closed and his skin pale. The cold was radiating from the bubble and trying to push Niner out of the room. Advisor Sparks came up beside him and stared up at the prison bubble, shivering.

_And that’s Black star_ , she “said” flatly.

_What are we going to do about it, Miss?_

_What are_ you _going to do about it, Niner? It’s your mind, you have to free yourself. I’m just here to help._ She looked at him. _What’s the plan?_

Niner didn’t answer, but studied the bubble carefully. There! That could work. He pointed at the space between the top of the bubble and the ceiling, where metal rods and wires were the only thing holding it up. _If I cut those wires the lightning will stop. Then I’ll break the supports and you can float me to the ground._

Advisor Sparks nodded. _Go for it, Niner._

He raised his blaster. After three bolts the electricity coating the bubble flickered out. Advisor Sparks raised her hands, ready for the bubble to fall. Five bolts later it did and she followed it carefully, bringing the imprisoned Niner to a gentle stop on the floor.

Niner went towards the bubble and cut through it with his vibroblade. He sliced though the restraints and the other him fell out of the bubble into Advisor Sparks’ arms. His eyes fluttered open. “I knew you wouldn’t forget about me,” he croaked to Niner. “Glad to see you, partner.” Niner felt a wave of warmth wash over him and he knew it came from freeing his other self.

_Glad to see you too._ He held out a hand to the other Niner and he took it. Before he could stand the two of them melted into each other and Anne was left to wait while the two Niners solidified back into one man.

_Good job, Niner._

Niner grinned. _Thank you, Miss. Shouldn’t we be getting back now?_

_Yes, we should._

Before Niner could blink he was standing back in the doorway of the room in the office building where Anakin and Advisor Sparks were kept. He hadn’t moved, and neither had Advisor Sparks, who opened her eyes and nodded to Anakin.

“So, you were right?” Anakin asked.

“I guess I do get good ideas when I’m sleep deprived. And I thought that only applied to my brother.” Anakin gave her a look and she amended her statement. “Only applied to my brother Lando. Not Luke.”

“How long did that take?” Niner asked.

Anakin pretended to look at a wrist crono. “Oh, about twenty seconds.”

“Really?”

“Really. You’d better keep obeying Sidious though, at least until we can free your brothers.”

Niner nodded in understanding. “I’ll send someone different to bring lunch.” He did have the highest rank out of the four of them, he could do that. “You’d better finish your breakfast before Sidious sends for you.” Advisor Sparks shivered at the thought. “He might not.” Niner attempted to comfort her.

“He will,” the Advisor said with complete certainty. “He will.”

He didn’t, not for three more days. Anakin was glad of the break, it gave them time to free the other clones and gave Anne time to recover, but he couldn’t help but worry about what Sidious might be planning for them. When the Sith finally did send the clones to bring them to him, Anakin walked down the hall with his entire body tensed, ready to jump into battle if he had to.

Sidious was sitting in his throne, as usual. The only differences were the bundle of fabric in his lap and the snarling Dathomirian standing slightly behind him.

“Ventress,”Anakin growled. The Dark Jedi smiled cruelly at him and ran her fingers over the hilt of one of her lightsabers.

“I see you recognize our guest.” Sidious looked over his shoulder at Ventress. “Lady Ventress has brought a very special gift for your beloved.”

“I won’t be thanking her.”

Sidious sighed. “Of course you won’t, Anakin.” He lifted up the bundle of fabric and Anne gasped. “Oh, you recognize this?” Sidious actually was surprised. The woman was strong in the Force but she wasn’t a Jedi. She wouldn’t have access to the Archive files about the Sith, as far as he knew she was only allowed to stay at the Temple because of her complicated relationship with the Hero With No Fear and Senator Amidala.

“It a Sith torture mask,” Anne said, staring at the black hood. “It’s imbued with Dark Side energy to stop Light Side users from calling on the Force.”

“Very good.” Sidious turned to Anakin. “I’m going to put this on her, and she will stay wearing it until you pledge yourself to me.” He looked over Anakin’s head at the two clones standing behind him. “Bring her here!”

“Miss,” Niner hissed as he grabbed Advisor Sparks’ arm.

“Listen to him,” Anne murmured. _Anakin, if you have to, you know the plan._

_I love you._

_I love you too._

“Kneel,” Sidious ordered. Anne knelt in front of him with her eyes fixed in a glare. Sidious let go of the mask and levitated it towards Anne. She clenched her jaw as she felt the Dark energy greedily reaching out for her. Anakin glared at Sidious and Niner squeezed his eyes shut behind his helmet as the hood settled over Anne’s head.

If her hands hadn’t been bound behind her back by Sidious using the Force then Anne would have ripped the mask off as soon as it touched her skin. After that her mind would have been too scattered to make the movements successfully. Attempts to pull herself together failed epically, as expected. Eventually she just gave up and let her tears of anger and frustration soak into the fabric. Ventress stared down at her with a look of absolute disgust, which did nothing to improve her mood. 

Anakin had never experienced wearing a Sith torture mask, and he didn’t want to, but he could tell from watching Anne that even without physical torture going on it was horrible. She was soon shaking so much that Niner and his brother were having a hard time holding her up. “Sidious, that’s enough! Needless suffering isn’t going to change anything.” 

Sidious smiled. He could feel the pure rage that the young Jedi was holding back. That was just what he wanted. “Use your anger, Anakin. Stop me.” He raised his hand.

With a shout Anakin knocked aside the two clones guarding him and barrelled towards Sidious. Without Anne to tell him to stop his Force push tore Sidious’ chair from the floor and sent the Sith lord flying into the wall with enough force to kill him had he not used the Force to stop his movement.

While Sidious was recovering, Anakin rushed to Anne’s side and pulled the hood off of her. She shook her head and immediately began attacking Ventress, who had to act quickly to stop herself from being impaled with her own lightsaber. “You horrible, horrible woman! Why would you have something like that? WHY?”

Sidious took control of the situation by freezing everyone where they stood. That this placed Ventress in a precarious position, in mid-jump above Anne’s head with a lightsaber blade directly under her stomach, was ignored by the Sith lord, who stood looking at Anakin with something akin to pride. “That was wonderful, Anakin, just wonderful. How did it feel, your first big taste of the Dark Side?”

Anakin didn’t answer, he just glared some more because he couldn’t strangle either Sidious or Ventress. Sidious then turned to Anne. “And you, my dear! Such rage is truly inspiring.” And her lightsaber skills were a nice surprise. “You would also make a wonderful Sith.” 

Ventress hissed at that statement. Not only did her own Master think she was unworthy of becoming a Sith, Darth Sidious himself treated her like a messenger girl and then gave his approval to a woman with no training! She tamped down her anger though, now was not the time to attack Sidious, not with a lightsaber. She’d just end up getting herself killed. Getting revenge for this would take much more delicate maneuvering.

When Sidious unfroze them it was only when he had unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and was holding it to Anne’s throat. Ventress completed her jump and stood away from Sidious and Anne, waiting to see what happened next. “I will give you one last chance, Anakin. Join me, and gain more power than you could possibly imagine. Or don’t, and watch me cut her throat before I kill you.”

“I’ll join you,” Anakin said quickly.

Sidious nodded with a smile, though he wasn’t happy at having to resort to death threats. That made things so much messier. “And you, my dear? Once you learn to use your rage nothing will ever be able to hurt you. ”

“Swear you won’t kill him, and I’ll join you,” Anne croaked.

“I swear.” Sidious took his lightsaber away from her neck and Anne dropped to her knees. Ventress’s lightsaber turned off as it fell from her hands and rolled towards its owner.

“Then I pledge myself to your teachings, Master,” Anne said.

Anakin knelt beside her. “As do I.”

“Good.” Sidious closed his eyes to savour his triumph. While he was distracted, Ventress picked up her lightsaber and left and quickly as she could. “The Force is strong with you. Henceforth you will be known as Darth Zalmon,” here he placed one hand on Anakin’s bowed head, “and Darth Eha,” his other hand was placed on Anne’s head. Then he clasped his hands together. “Rise, my new apprentices, and we will begin your training.”

* * *

Yoda’s eyes flew open. For the first time in years he had seen the future clearly, and it was not pretty. He might have sat meditating for hours if Mace hadn’t come to his rooms to tell him that Asajj Ventress was standing outside the Temple and demanding to speak to Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Mace saw how pale the Grand Master was he immediately asked what was wrong.

“Clear, the future has become,” Yoda replied. “A shift in the Force, there has been. And not in our favour, it is.”

“What do we do?” Mace asked.

“Wait and see, we must. Always changing, the future is.” That was true, but at that moment Yoda was drawing no comfort from his old adage. 


	20. Chapter 20

The camera droid hovered above the dusty street leading to the lake as it filmed the reporter covering the Harvest Day celebrations in the city of Sinoh on Grella. There was a rumour going around that the mayor would be making a very important announcement at the end of the day and, since the end of the war meant that it was safe to travel (or that the danger was back down to its normal level anyway), they had been sent to see what it was. Even if the announcement wasn’t that important they were getting some good footage of people enjoying themselves that was a nice change from all the war news that they had been showing for the past two years. This was good for records, and the live broadcast that they were currently doing. 

The droid turned to catch a shot of a group of children watching a juggler who currently had five balls and a piece of fruit tumbling though the air. Every time the fruit went by his mouth he jerked his head out and took a bite. The children were laughing as they watch the fruit disappear as if by magic.

Everyone was happy and relaxed. Booths with all sorts of games and prizes had been set up and there was going to be a parade starting in less than an hour. Even if it started raining the day couldn’t be ruined because there was plenty of fun stuff going on inside public buildings.

Then the screaming started. The reporter was almost trampled as a crowd ran by and the droid was sent spinning around in circles. When it was able to focus again its camera was pointing at the flames leaping up from the roofs and spreading quickly from building to building. People were spilling out onto the streets, carrying children who wouldn’t have been able to escape on their own. Law enforcement was shouting for everyone to head towards the lake. “Are you getting this?” the reporter asked the droid. It beeped assent. “Viewers, what you are now witnessing is a complete evacuation of Sinoh due to a fire that seems to have spread to every building in the city.” The reporter went over to a law enforcement officer who was directing people. “Officer, can you tell me what’s happening?”

The officer barely looked at the reporter as she spoke. “There are Humans in cloaks running around setting fires. You have to get to the lake, ma’am.”

The reporter looked like she was about to start arguing when someone else let out a scream. The droid turned towards the noise and saw a group of stragglers being chased by a hooded figure wielding a red-bladed lightsaber. The group of people were running as fast as they could and the dark figure chased them halfway down the road before stopping. They looked towards the camera droid and all that could be seen under their hood were two gleaming yellow eyes before a few officers opened fire and the droid’s camera was destroyed by a deflected bolt.

Chancellor Bail Organa switched off the recording. He turned to face Jedi Masters Yoda, Windu and Ki-Adi-Mundi , and Senator Amidala. “That was the third attack this month,” he said gravely. “And the ninth in the past four months. Would you like to tell me why you still think we shouldn’t send our entire army, which has nothing else to do, to hunt down those Sith?”

The Jedi Masters looked at each other. Master Ki-Adi-Mundi gave a slight shake of his head that Bail would have missed if he hadn’t been a seasoned politician. It was this also that kept him from frowning. What were they hiding from him? 

“Darth Sidious can control the clones,” Senator Amidala said when none of the Jedi spoke. “If we sent them after him we would just be giving him the most powerful army in the Galaxy.”

Judging by the placid face of the Senator’s handmaiden, Bail was the only one in the room who was just hearing that news. “Why didn’t someone tell me this before?” he asked through gritted teeth.

The Jedi looked at each other again and this time he was sure they were all thinking, “Weren’t _you_ supposed to tell him?”

“Preoccupied, we have been,” Master Yoda apologized, his ears drooping. The green Jedi Master was wholly embarrassed at this oversight. “Sent out many Jedi, we have. To capture the Sith. Loosing track of other things, we are.” 

“The Sith are _our_ enemy,” Master Windu said. “For now they just seem to be trying to scare people, to build up their power. If we catch them quickly we’ll be able to end this before any killing starts.”

Bail sat back in his chair. “Have your Jedi come up with anything?”

“Not yet.” Master Windu waved the green astromech droid sitting by the door over to them. “But our advisor gave us some…interesting information. Arthree, show Bail Organa file Gamma One, paragraph one.” The droid beeped and whirred. A few seconds later a page of holographic writing was projected onto Bail’s desk in front of him. He raised his eyebrow but leaned forward to read what the file said.

_‘After the destruction of the Temple, Sidious gathered all the Separatist leaders on the planet Mustafar, where they were killed by Vader. Mustafar is where Darth Maul began his Sith training and where Darth Vader lost his remaining limbs after his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. As the plant draws Sith it should be avoided unless completely necessary.’_ Bail looked up at Master Windu. “This can’t have happened. We negotiated with the Separatist leaders.”

“Exactly.” Master Windu spoke to the droid again. “Arthree, show Bail Organa file Alpha Three, paragraph one.” The hologram on his desk changed and Bail carefully read the new information.

‘ _Sith training includes a ‘sacrifice’, which is the trainee having a hand in killing someone that they love. It can happen at any time during the training so make sure that any surviving Jedi are warned and place some sort of protection around the Lars’ and Padmé Amidala, if possible. In the movies, Darth Vader helped Sidious to kill Mace Windu.’_ Bail looked at the faces of every person sitting in front of him and at the handmaiden standing behind the Senator. “If this is a joke, it isn’t funny and you might have tried harder. Movies?”

The droid beeped indignantly and turned off the projection. Master Yoda nodded to Bail. “True, it is. And said you could be trusted, our advisor did.”

Bail snorted, any attempt at holding his personal feelings back going out the window. “Who is this advisor anyway? Why haven’t any of us met them?” ‘Us’ meaning members of the Senate.

“I’ve met her,” Senator Amidala told him. “Her name is Anne Sparks, and she can be trusted. Like all of us, she only wants what’s best for the Galaxy.”

“Well, where is she?” 

The Senator blushed. “She’s one of the Sith.”

Chancellor Organa’s loud shout of “What?” had Ki-Adi-Mundi quickly providing an explanation. He understood how Bail felt, it had been him and the rest of the Jedi Council doing the shouting only six weeks ago.

“She and Anakin Skywalker were kidnapped by Sidous along with four clones. Sidious tortured her and then threatened to kill both of them if they didn’t turn to the Dark Side and join him. I don’t know her very well, but I do know that Skywalker would never let anyone he loved die if he could stop it.”

“So the other Sith…”

“Is Skywalker,” Ki-Adi-Mundi said.

Bail put his head down on his desk. “This can’t get out to the public,” he groaned. “Please tell me you have some good news?”

“If I know those two,” Senator Amidala started, “they have some sort of crazy plan to fix everything, or they’ll see a chance and run with it. And I do know them, probably better than anyone else here.” She looked at her companions as if daring them to contradict her.

Bail sighed. “I hope all of you are right, because if you aren’t then we’ve got two Sith running around who are going to start killing people and the Republic has no way to stop them.”


	21. Chapter 21

“You have done well,” Sidious said.

Darth Zalmon bowed his head. “Thank you, Master, but we only did as you instructed.”

“Yes, and now it is time to move on to phase two.”

Darth Eha’s eyes flashed with excitement. “Can we stop letting them run away now, Master?”

Sidious smiled indulgently. Turned to the Dark Side the woman was a wonderfully bloodthirsty demon who he could point at any target he wanted as long as she got to destroy something. It was amazing how quickly Light Siders changed when they were granted almost unlimited power.

“Soon, my dear,” Sidious said. Eha’s face fell. “First, I have another sort of job for you, and I think you’ll enjoy it.”

Eha tilted her head and looked slightly interested. If their Master thought she’d enjoy what he had planned then it would probably be something involving plenty of destruction and mayhem. 

“What is it, Master?” Zalmon asked. “Will it take long?”

“No, not very. With the clones helping you it won’t take more than a few days.”

“Where will we be going?” Eha asked.

“First, Mustafar. I want to give you your instructions in person. You will meet me there in three standard days. Don’t be late.”

“Of course not, Master.” The two Sith apprentices bowed again as the holocomm flickered off. After staying quiet and still for a few moments Eha asked, “Did you get that?”

“Of course I did.” Zalmon pressed a few buttons on the console. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Eha folded her hands together in front of her stomach. “I’m sure. He needs to die.”

Zalmon nodded and pressed a few more buttons. He turned away from the console. “It’s done.”

Eha reached out and pulled him towards her. “And now we wait,” she murmured into his robe. “With any luck they won’t decide it’s a trap.”

Zalmon snorted. “They’re too _hopeful_ for that.” He tilted his head and kissed his lover. “Once this is over we can go find a nice out of the way planet to live on, or take over, whichever one you want.”

Eha smiled. “That sounds wonderful, Zal. You’re too good to me. Right now I want a little of that madness our Master promised. Can we tell the clones to stop on Tatooine? I want to see if Hutts scream when they’re killed.”

Zalmon looked at her with concern. “Eha, remember what we talked about?”

“Right, right, no killing and no torturing, I’m working on it. Maybe if you could keep me occupied in other ways…”

Zalmon grinned and kissed her again. “It is early, and we have three days to get to Mustafar. I’ll tell the clones to land somewhere safe so they can take some shore leave.”

* * *

_“‘You will meet me there in three standard days. Don’t be late.’ ‘Of course not, Master.’”_

Bail looked over at Obi-Wan Kenobi as the lights came back on in the Jedi Council chamber. The Jedi Master was staring straight ahead with his lips pressed into a tight line and Bail thought that he saw tears being held back in the man’s blue eyes.

“What think you, Chancellor?” Master Yoda asked.

Bail studied the faces of the other Council members as he thought over the recording they had just seen. “It really looks like it’s a trap.” Master Windu and several other Jedi nodded. Bail looked over at Obi-Wan again before continuing. “But the best way to find out what they’re planning would be to spring the trap. If we’re lucky they’ll actually be there and we could capture at least one of them.” 

“We will have to be careful who we send,” Master Mundi pointed out. “We don’t want to leave the Temple unprotected.”

“Are we going then?” Master Plo asked.

“The Chancellor makes a good point,” Master Windu said. “I think that we should go.”

“I volunteer.” The rest of the Council looked at Obi-Wan. “If we all agree?”

They did.


	22. Chapter 22

Mustafar was Eha’s least favourite planet two seconds after they walked out of the ship. Even with the breath mask that Zalmon had insisted she wear the heat and fumes of the planet’s surface had her feeling uncomfortably light-headed and nauseous. Zalmon gripped her arm tightly as they walked down the ramp with two of the clones following them. The other two clones were remaining on the ship to provide a quick getaway if it was needed.

“Will you be alright?” he asked quietly.

Eha’s beautiful yellow eyes flicked towards him. “Of course I will. Our Master is waiting for us.” The “so I can’t show weakness” part of the sentence was left unsaid.

Eha removed the breath mask just before they entered the control room. One of the clones took it from her and stowed it in the bag he was carrying. The clones took up a position flanking the door whiles the two Sith walked farther into the room. Their Master was standing in front of a window across the room, looking out at a lava flow. He of course wasn’t wearing a breath mask.

Zalmon and Eha bowed to his back. “Master.”

Sidious turned around. “My apprentices. Thank you for being prompt.”

“We wish to know our mission, Master,” Eha said. “How could we not be on time?”

Sidious smirked. “True.” He moved over to another window. “My apprentices are always eager.”

“Where will we be going, Master?” Zalmon asked.

“Coruscant.” Sidious turned around to face them. “You are going to destroy the Jedi Temple.” He waited to see what his apprentices’ reactions would be. A slow smile crept over Eha’s face and her eyes gleamed. Zalmon kept his expression stoic but there was a quick flash of something that almost looked like worry that had Sidious grinding his teeth. “Is something wrong, Zalmon?”

“Not at all, Master,” Zalmon lied.

Sidious narrowed his eyes. “Darth Zalmon—”

“I’m pregnant,” Eha blurted out. “He’s worried about me, the _koochoo._ ”

Sidious blinked. He searched though the Force and saw, to his surprise, a tiny, fluctuating Force-signature buried deep within Eha’s own Dark sandstorm. The innocent Light set off every alarm inside him, screaming that it had to be snuffed out. He forced himself to smile. “That’s wonderful, my dear. Yours will be the first child born into our new Galactic Empire. They will have every planet at their feet.” 

Eha bowed deeply. “Thank you, Master.”

“We will have to change our plans though.” He had originally wanted them to wait a few weeks before attacking the Temple so that they would have spent all that time getting more and more impatient for the attack to happen. Impatience and grumpiness translated well into anger. Now though, the longer they waited the less likely they’d be to go through with it. “You will go to Coruscant tomorrow.”

A shadow passed over Zalmon’s face and Sidious was about to begin grilling him again when he realized that it had been an actual shadow. He turned around just in time to see a flash of the underside of a ship’s wing, a type of ship that he recognized immediately. He spun around again and thrust out his arm. Eha gurgled as she was lifted into the air. She clawed at her throat in a panic. Zalmon shouted helplessly. “Master!”

“You brought the Jedi here,” Sidious hissed, tightening his grip around Eha’s throat. “I don’t have to ask why. Go get rid of them, _Zalmon_.” Zalmon rushed out of the room and Sidious dropped Eha. The woman gasped and bent over into a coughing fit. “Don’t worry my dear. I’m sure Zalmon will do his duty. I really would hate to kill you.”

* * *

Obi-Wan would have been the first out of the ship if Mace hadn’t stopped him. “We don’t know what’s waiting for us out there, and we can’t afford to lose you.”

Obi-Wan nodded and let Mace step out in front of him with his hand on his lightsaber. He followed his friend and immediately caught sight of the hooded figure waiting for them at the end of the ramp. He and Mace both ignited their lightsabers, with Master Plo, Siri, and Master Tiin following close behind them.

The figure didn’t move, but as soon as he was within range Mace found himself suspended in the air by his neck, choking. His lightsaber turned off as it hit the ground and rolled to a stop at the Sith’s feet. As the Sith looked up at his victim his hood fell back and the Jedi had their first look at the face of the fallen Anakin Skywalker. His bloodshot yellow eyes roamed over them.

“You must leave,” Anakin said.

The four Jedi still on the ground raised their weapons, but they were reluctant to attack. With Anakin clearly prepared to kill Mace and his own skill with a lightsaber the odds were not in their favour.

“Why did you want us here?” Master Plo asked.

Anakin ignored him. “Now. My Master demands it.”

Siri stepped forwards. “If your Master is here, we want to see him.”

“That will not be possible.”

“Anakin, please, let us help you,” Obi-Wan begged.

Anakin looked at Obi-Wan. Yellow eyes met blue and in a second both Mace and Anakin had dropped to the ground. Mace landed on his feet and advanced on the now screaming Sith, who didn’t even notice him snatching up his weapon.

Anakin’s screams turned into pain filled groans as he slowly regained control. When Zalmon realized what was happening he had fought against it before being overwhelmed and retreating to the back corners of Anakin’s mind. Seeing the faces of Obi-Wan and Master Windu had unlocked his memories, just as they had intended, but the pain he felt as they emerged was not expected. He kept his eyes squeezed shut as he gripped his throbbing head and thanked the Force that the unlocking hadn’t happened in the middle of a battle. 

He heard the humming of a lightsaber as the tip of it came to rest under his chin. He wrenched his eyes open and saw Master Windu staring down at him. He spoke quietly so that he wouldn’t risk getting his face sliced in half.

“I am so glad you’re here.”


	23. Chapter 23

The sounds of a lightsaber battle reached her ears, just barely audible over the noise of the planet. No one was dead, she could sense that, but the earlier faint screams and flashes of pain had Eha imagining that Zalmon had broken his own rules and had fun torturing someone without her. That made her mad.

Her Master looked up at her as she paced in front of the chair he had somehow found to sit on. “Save your anger, my dear. You’ll have an outlet for very it soon.”

Eha snorted and turned again. “Zalmon will get rid of all of them, Master.”

Sidious settled back in his chair and folded his hands. “Just wait for tomorrow.” He tilted his head. “Or another five seconds.”

Eha stopped pacing. She sensed it too. Someone was coming their way. “May I take them, Master?”

“Of course you may.”

When Mace Windu, Siri Kenobi and Plo Koon burst through the door, Eha was ready with a handful of lightning to throw at one of them. She chose Plo Koon, knowing that the Kel Dor was the most analytical of the group. He was blasted out the door and was followed quickly by the clones, who wanted to make sure he was alright and knew that if they were in the room when the lightsaber battle started they would just be in the way.

Eha smiled at the two remaining Jedi. “Oops.”

“I will tell you once, surrender or we will use force,” Mace said. 

“Stand down, Anne,” Siri said softly. “We don’t want to fight you.”

“But I want to fight you.” Without another word Eha darted forward and set upon Siri with fast strikes that left Siri not choice but to counterattack. Mace couldn’t help her because Sidious was doing something that kept him frozen by the door.

The fight was over after a few minutes. Mace blinked with surprise when Siri went flying towards the wall and slid to the ground, unconscious. How was it possible that Siri, who had been training with a lightsaber almost all her life, could be defeated by someone who hadn’t even held a real lightsaber until three years ago?

Eha stopped moving and smiled at Mace, panting slightly. The power of the Dark Side swirled around her, priming her body for the next fight. She looked over her shoulder. “Can I take him too, Master? I want to see if I can.” Sidious nodded and freed Mace with a flick of his fingers.

Mace raised his lightsaber and took a few calming breaths. He waited for Anne to make the first move, and she didn’t disappoint. His purple lightsaber met her red one as he blocked her first strike. “You can still stop this, Anne.” Her red lightsaber swung around and he moved to block the strike that would have severed his left leg.

“My name is Darth Eha.” She attacked again. This time Mace wasn’t able to block the Dark Side assisted strike and her lightsaber’s path cut a shallow wound in his arm. He retaliated and the quick flashes of moving lightsabers made Sidious smile. Here was proof that the Sith could finally overpower the Jedi and take their place as the rulers of the Galaxy. His apprentices were their future, and that future was doing a good job of keeping up with the Jedi’s Vaapad master and slowly beating him to the ground. If Windu had been using the Dark Side then he would have won, but he wouldn’t and he wasn’t.

Pity.

Then, in a quick move that surprised both Sidious and Eha, Mace flicked his wrist and amputated Eha’s left arm below the elbow. Eha screamed in shock and pain and intensified her attack on the Jedi Master, who held up his hand and Force-pushed her across the room. Sidious stood as his apprentice hit the wall behind him and flopped under the window. Mace faced him with his lightsaber held loosely at his side. “It’s over, Darth.”

Sidious growled and reached for his own lightsaber.

There was a crash. Sidious spun around to see his second apprentice jumping through the window followed closely by two more Jedi Masters. The shattered transparasteel flew through the air and Sidious almost forgot to throw up a shield because he couldn’t figure out how it had happened.

Saesee Tiin held up his lightsaber and stared calmly at the Sith lord. Beside him, Obi-Wan Kenobi did the same. Sidious though was concentrating on his apprentice, who was standing in front of the two Jedi with his hood thrown back and his yellow-and-blue eyes boring into the Sith. “I thought I told you to get rid of them, Zalmon.”

“You did.” Anakin walked towards his former Master. “I decided not to.” He raised his sickening red lightsaber and in a flash the hilt of Sidious’s lightsaber had been sliced in half. The Sith lord blasted him with lightning, which he caught with his lightsaber before reflexively thrusting out his hand and calling on the Dark Side to strangle the Sith.

“Anakin!” Anakin turned towards Obi-Wan and the blue rims around his irises stopped having to battle against the yellow as he dropped Sidious. He looked down at the trembling Sith lord.

“Kill me, Anakin,” Sidious coughed. “Strike me down with your anger, and your training will be complete!” Everyone heard the sound of Anakin’s lightsaber turning off, even Siri, who was just beginning to come to.

“No,” Anakin said. “I am a Jedi, like my father. I will not kill you.”

Sidious laughed harshly. “You have no father! The Jedi don’t love you, they just want their Chosen One.”

This time Anakin was the one to laugh. “You’re wrong, Sidious. I have the best father I could ever hope for, and I know he’d love me whether I was the Chosen One or not.” Obi-Wan smiled at him. Master Tiin decided not to destroy the moment and quietly restrained Sidious using the Force-binders and handcuffs they had brought with them. 

Mace drew their attention after he finished making sure that Siri was alright. “We’ll bring him back to the Temple for a trial. I don’t know what we’ll do with him after though.”

Master Tiin shook his head. “We’ll figure something out.”

Anakin knelt next to Eha and carefully revived her. Her eyes fluttered open. Her remaining hand felt for her lightsaber. “It’s over, Eha.” Eha looked up at him and her gaze slowly traveled over his shoulder to where Sidious was kneeling by his chair. A split second before Anakin realized what she was going to do Eha had called her lightsaber to her and jumped up to plunge the red blade into her Master’s chest. He gasped.

“That was for the lightning, Master.” She pulled the lightsaber out and cut through his neck before he could fall over. “And that was for strangling me.”


	24. Chapter 24

Everyone gaped as the Sith lord’s head rolled across the floor. Eha turned to look at the Jedi. “What? It’s not like you’d have been able to do anything with him.”

“Eha,” Anakin said hoarsely. “Didn’t we talk about not killing?”

Eha shrugged. “We did, but when I saw that you hadn’t killed him…” Mace moved to restrain her but after quick glance from Anakin he agreed to wait.

“Eha, look at me,” Anakin said. She did, and with that eye contact Anakin dove into her mind. He pushed past the Darkness at the front and made his way to a far, forgotten corner that took the form of a lush forest.

“What is this place?” Anakin looked sideways and saw that Eha had appeared beside him. Well, it was her mind. “Where are we, Zal?”

Anakin thought carefully about what he was going to say. “This is a park, Eha. We hid something here and now we have to find it.”

“Is it important?”

“Very.”

“Okay. What are we looking for?”

“There’s this tree…” Anakin described the brown tree with green needles that had a knothole in the base of its trunk with a slit in the middle. Eha nodded and they began searching.

After a few turns Anakin saw a rock that he recognized. “We’re here.” He found the tree and knelt beside it. Eha hovered behind him, guarding his back.

Anakin closed his eyes and pulled out the toothed strip of metal that Anne said was a key. He inserted it into the knothole and turned it to the left. The tree began to glow and he was thrown back into the real world as Anne’s memories broke free. Eha’s eyes rolled back into her head and Mace caught her as she collapsed.

“What did you do, Anakin?” Mace asked.

Anakin shook his head. “I’ll tell you later, I promise, but can we get out of here first?”

* * *

Anne groaned. Bant quickly put her datapad down and watched as her fingerling slowly opened her eyes. Her yellow irises made Bant want to wince but she calmed herself down while Anne looked around the room.

“What happened?” Anne’s voice was muffled by the breath mask that the Healers had her wearing so Bant had to listen closely to hear what she was saying. “Where’s Anakin?”

“He’s with the Council, fingerling. He’ll come down to see you when they’re finished.” That wouldn’t be for a while though. Anakin had a lot to fill them in on.

Anne frowned. “So…we’re safe?”

“Yes, dear. You’re safe.”

“What happened to Sidious?”

“You don’t remember?” Anne shook her head carefully. Bank took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Did he get away?” Anne asked.

“No, he’s dead.”

“Oh. That’s good.” Anne blinked and yawned. “I’m tired.”

Bant tried not to look at her new mechno-arm, which was resting on top of the sheets. “Of course you are, dear. Go back to sleep, I’ll stay with you.”

“Thank you,” Anne murmured. Her eyes were already beginning to close but she managed to say “Wake me if anyone comes.” before falling asleep. Bant spent the half hour between then and when Anakin and Ahsoka arrived holding Anne’s hand and thinking in circles.

“What’s wrong?” Anakin asked when he saw Bant’s face.

“Anne woke up—”

“How was she?” Ahsoka interrupted. Anakin flicked her Padawan braid and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Tired.” Bant looked back to Anakin. “Right now it’s just a guess, but I don’t think she can remember anything at least since Sidious captured you.”

Anakin frowned and pulled up a chair on the other side of the sleep couch. “The Council wants to talk to her.”

“They don’t believe you?” Bant asked.

Anakin paled and buried his face in his hands. Ahsoka began his answer for him. “They do, but—”

“—some of what happened was her idea.” 

Bant stroked Anne’s tangled hair gently. “Well, they’ll just have to wait. We’ll see what she remembers when she wakes up, and call for a Mind Healer if we need to.”

Anakin made a faint sound of agreement, his hands still over his face. Ahsoka moved to touch his shoulder. “Are you alright, Master?”

“I’m fine!” Ahsoka jumped back as Anakin whipped his head up to growl at her. She gasped at the flash of yellow in his eyes.

“Master!” _Stay with us, Skyguy!_

Anakin squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again the yellow was gone. _I’m fine, Snips._

Ahsoka sighed with relief and collapsed onto the end of the sleep couch. Anne murmured and her eyes shot open. She focused on the Padawan sitting directly in her line of sight. “Morning, Snips.”

Ahsoka jumped up, the white strips of her head-tails turning pink. “Sorry!” Anne’s yellow eyes met her’s and she looked at the ground.

“ ‘Sokay.”Anne tried to sit up but the synthaskin-free prosthetic sliding on the sheets didn’t give her the traction she needed right away. She looked at her mechno-arm and began to turn pale.

“Honey…” Bant looked from Anne to Anakin and back again. “Do you remember what happened?”

Anne didn’t reply as she turned her new arm this way and that. _It looks like yours,_ she thought to Anakin.

Anakin lightly touched her silver and black arm with his own gold-detailed fingers. _I tweaked the design for you. I didn’t want you to wake up with a senseless one like I did._

Anne looked up into Anakin’s eyes, piercing blue above sharp cheekbones. _What happened to us, Anakin?_

“Do you remember your plan?” Anakin asked out loud for the benefit of Bant, who was starting to look worried. “The memories one.” Anne nodded slowly. “It worked _._ ”

Anne’s face fell. _I just remember attacking Ventress after…_ _We fell?_ Anakin nodded. “Is anyone dead?”

“Just Sidious,” Ahsoka snarled gleefully.

_Snips!_

Ahsoka’s head-tails flushed. _Sorry._

_Why the arm?_ Anne asked. _And the breath mask? How long has it been?_

Anakin took a deep breathe. “It’s been about five months?” He looked to Bant and Ahsoka, who nodded. “Five months. Mustafar’s atmosphere didn’t agree with you, and Master Windu cut off your arm so he didn’t have to kill you, according to him.”

Anne blinked. And blinked again. _I’m allergic to a planet?_

“Sure, let’s call it that.” Anakin knew why she was focusing on that. “Anne, we’re going to get a Mind Healer to take a look at you. Maybe they can help you remember what happened.”

* * *

Healer Juhem stepped back as she retreated from the Sparks girl’s mind, carefully avoiding looking into her yellow eyes. Knight Skywalker stared at her from the corner of the room, his arms crossed. “Well?”

“There’s a block on her memories,” the Mind Healer said slowly, purposefully looking at Master Eerin rather than Skywalker or his Padawan. “I could take it down, but it would be best to let it wear away over time.”

“Take it down.” Anne had taken off the breath mask so that she could be clearly heard. “I need to remember,” she said, before dissolving into a coughing fit that made it difficult for Bant to make her put the mask back on. _Please._

“She says ‘please’.” Anakin told the frowning Mind Healer. “So, please?”

Juhem sighed. “Alright, but it will be very…uncomfortable.”

“I won’t say you didn’t warn me,” Anne promised.

Juhem sat at the end of the sleep couch and told Anne to look into her eyes and count backwards from ten. At “eight” she dove back inter her mind and began battering at the wall with Light Side energy. In the physical world, Anne stopped counting and screamed. Bant gripped her hand and Ahsoka held Anakin back so that he wouldn’t attack the Zabrak.

Two minutes later the wall had shattered. Juhem retreated and saw the Sparks girl collapsing against the wall as her brain worked to process the five months of memories that had been released.

“Ahsoka,” Anne said with her eyes squeezed shut. “Would you slap Anakin for me please? In the face. I’ll take the blame.”

“Sure, GL.” Ahsoka let go of Anakin’s arms and darted around him to slap him across the face.

“Why do you call me that when you don’t even know what it stands for?”

Ahsoka smiled at her. “It stands for something?”

Anakin rubbed his cheek. “What was that for?”

“Why didn’t you tell me—” Anne stopped and looked over at Healer Juhem.

“Thank you for your help, Juhem,” Bant said quickly.

“Call me if you need anything.” The Healer left the room thankfully.

“Why didn’t you tell me that we’re going to be _parents_?” Ahsoka and Bant looked between Anakin and Anne with surprise.

Anakin rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t sure how to.”

“My mom would have a fit. We’re not married!” 

“Should I slap him again?” Ahsoka asked shakily, raising her hand.

Anne blinked. “If you want.”

“Snips, I don’t think—”

Ahsoka slapped him again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pointless slapstick.


	25. Chapter 25

After another night with the breath mask in the Healer’s wing, Anne was cleared to go. Despite that, she almost coughed in Master Windu’s face as he was standing outside the door when they left. “Master Windu!” She tried to bow and back away at the same time and ended up running into Anakin. “What are you doing down here?”

“Waiting for you.” Mace nodded to Anne and Anakin in greeting. “Obi-Wan said that you were getting out today.”

Anne laughed nervously. “Yeah. You want to have that talk, don’t you?” Anakin coughed and Anne stepped fully out into the hallway. “Anakin told me what he told you. It’s all true.” Minus the part about there not being anything else to tell them. Telling the entire Council that they were having a kid, or kids, was not something neither Anakin nor Anne wanted to do right away.

Master Windu began walking down the hall and motioned for them to follow him. “That is good to know, but really I wanted to apologize.”

“For cutting my arm off?” Anne guessed. Master Windu nodded. “It’s alright. I remember the fight, it was the best option.” That didn’t mean that it hadn’t hurt, but it was better than dying. “Master, what happened to Ventress? Obi-Wan said she came here.”

Master Windu sighed. “Ventress took a ship and left the day we brought you back. She left a message saying that she was going to leave the Galaxy.”

“She’s going to _what_?” Anakin asked incredulously. “That’s not possible.”

Master Windu shook his head. “She appears to have succeeded. None of our people have been able to find her.”

_She’s not such a bad person,_ Anne pointed out.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. _If you say so._ “Really, Master Windu? Then maybe she has. I pity whatever new galaxy that’s going to have to deal with her.”

“So do I.” The corner of Mace’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Dooku is still in his cell.”

“You don’t know what to do with him?” Anne asked.

“We’re having a meeting this afternoon. You’re invited, both of you.”

Anne bowed her head. “Thank you, Master. We’ll be there.”

“Definitely,” Anakin agreed.

* * *

_‘Just leave him in jail for a few more years’, that’s your suggestion?_

Anne rolled over so that she could see Anakin while they communicated. Anakin opened his eyes and stopped pretending to be asleep. _It works on Earth. Why are you asking about this now?_

_You were talking to Master Plo._

_That was five minutes._

_Half an hour, at least._

Anne rolled her eyes. _I hit him with lightning. That takes time to apologize for._

Anakin chuckled and wrapped one arm around her. _Yet you can shake off Master Windu’s apology for cutting off your arm in five seconds._

_That was necessary, electrocuting Master Plo wasn’t._ The nighttime semi-silence was interrupted by Anne’s sigh. _I can feel it, Anakin. The Dark Side. It’s…calling._

Anakin squeezed his eyes shut. Ever since he’d come back from being Darth Zalmon the Dark Side had been hanging over him predatorily. He knew it was just waiting for him to slip up, to be so angry that he would give in.

He had had enough near misses to figure it out.

_I know, I feel it too._ Eha had gone closer to the Dark Side than Zalmon had. She had embraced it, and now it wanted her back. _You haven’t given in?_

Absolute horror reached Anakin through their bond. _No! I’m not strong enough to come back again._

Anne shivered despite the blanket covering them and Anakin pulled her closer to him to give her a hug, resting his chin on her head. _You’re stronger than you think._

Anne hummed noncommittally. After a few moments she asked, _What should we name them?_

Anakin blinked. _Name who?_

Anne looked up at him with widened eyes. _Our child._

Anakin felt himself blushing. _What about Luke for a boy?_ , he suggested. _And Padmé for a girl?_ He knew he’d said something wrong when he was flooded with fear and anger though their Force-bond. The Dark Side rose up excitedly until Anne shoved her emotions away. 

_We are not naming our child after my brother who tried to kill me, even if he was named after your son. What about Qui-Gon if they’re a boy?_ Qui-Gon had been a good man, despite the fact that he tended to walk the line between liberally interpreting the Council’s orders and doing whatever the hell he wanted. Their son could do worse than being named after him.

_Qui-Gon Skywalker. That doesn’t sound right,_ Anakin mused. _Neither does Padmé Skywalker, now that I think about it in that context._ His _daughter_ Padmé Skywalker, not his wife. That was how that name was used whenever it was said, and Anne was the only one to ever call Padmé that. It was always used absentmindedly when she was telling him something about _Star Wars_ because, according to Anne, her name was never officially changed. 

_We have eight months to come up with names. And about three to figure out how we’re going to tell the Council._

Anakin had been thinking about that. A _nne, would you marry me?_

_Tomorrow._

Anakin smiled. _I think it’ll take a bit longer than that to organize a full Jedi wedding. Maybe the day after tomorrow._

Anne smiled into Anakin’s chest. A Jedi wedding? There had been three of those, including Obi-Wan and Siri’s, and the only thing connecting them was that it had been Jedi getting married. The ceremonies had had absolutely nothing in common.

_You want to have a shotgun wedding?_ she guessed.

_I’m going to say no, just because I don’t know what that means. If we get married soon then we can just pretend—_

_—that we didn’t create a child while we were Sith._ Could using the Dark Side corrupt a growing baby? Anne didn’t know. Anakin didn’t know. Ahsoka didn’t know. Bant didn’t know. The Council would know, and if their baby was going to be born Dark then they didn’t know what the Masters would do. Their baby was Light in the Force, but they couldn’t risk it. Even Obi-Wan didn’t know that Anne was pregnant. _The Council can count, but it could work._ They had to try something.

_I’ll ask Master Windu tomorrow,_ Anakin decided.

_Today. I’m pretty sure it’s past midnight. Maybe we should try to get some sleep._

_Do or do not, there is no try._ Anakin drew back and kissed Anne’s forehead. _Goodnight, Anne._

_Goodnight, Anakin. Sweet dreams._


	26. Chapter 26

The Room of a Thousand Fountains was being prepared for a wedding again. Ahsoka had volunteered to help, it was her Master’s wedding after all, but there really wasn’t much to do. She tied ribbons to trees to lead guests to the tree that the ceremony would take place under, a large one close to one of the waterfalls, and then just ended up sparing with Barr’k, who had also volunteered to help out, until Master Windu and Anakin arrived.

“I see you’ve finished.” Barr’k guiltily hid his lightsaber behind his back and Anakin grinned at him. “Don’t worry, I should have told you that you wouldn’t have much to do.”

Ahsoka deactivated her lightsaber and walked towards him. “Is this really all Anne wants for her wedding?” Human women in holofilms always seemed to have a lot of stuff when they got married, and Siri and Obi-Wan’s wedding hadn’t been this sparse.

Anakin shrugged and shook his head. “She has a dress but she wouldn’t let me see it.” Her reason was some sort of Earth superstition, just another one to add to the others that had come up while they were planning their wedding. It seemed that, with only three days to arrange everything, Anne had fallen back on what she knew and left Anakin’s head spinning as a result. He’d sort of just left her, Padmé and Bant to do whatever they wanted after she asked him if he’d mind using ribbons instead of rings.

Barr’k deactivated his lightsaber just as the first guests began to arrive. It would be a pretty small wedding, Anakin and Anne didn’t have a lot of friends even between both of them. Rex and the rest of Anakin’s men were there, as were Codes and Niner. All the Council members were invited, but only Obi-Wan and Master Plo Koon were able to come, not counting Master Windu being there to conduct the ceremony.

Anakin stood with Obi-Wan by the waterfall until Bant came to fetch him for something. Then he stared at the water, wondering if it was possible for him to start panicking when he hadn’t felt even a bit stressed before today, when a voice behind him made him stop breathing. He turned around slowly.

“Mom?”

Shmi Skywalker-Lars smiled at her son, who was standing frozen in front of her. Cliegg chuckled. “Give your mother a hug, son.”

Anakin followed Cliegg’s instruction robotically, still looking completely shocked by their appearance. “What are you doing here?” he murmured.

“I couldn’t miss my son’s wedding.” Shmi’s eyes were shining with tears as she drew back. “You’re getting married. Oh, Ani, I can’t believe it.”

“They grow up so fast,” Cliegg agreed. “It seems like yesterday that Owen was small enough to sit on my knee. Now he’s managing the farm and this old man is waiting for grandchildren to sit on the knee he has left!” Cliegg slapped his knee and laughed.

The sound shocked Anakin out of his stupor. He shook his head. “But how did you get here?”

“Master Kenobi came to pick us up,” Cliegg told him. “You ought to thank him.”

“That’ll have to wait,” Ahsoka said from behind him. “Master, Anne’s almost here.”

Anakin nodded and turned to his mother and her husband, who quickly promised that they would talk more after the ceremony. Anakin stood under the tree next to Master Windu, waiting. Padmé smiled at him from the front of the group and Ahsoka sent him encouragement through their training bond.

Anne arrived about two seconds after everyone was settled. Anakin had to do a double take when he saw her walking down the aisle on Obi-Wan’s arm. Was that really the woman he was marrying? Anne smiled at him as Obi-Wan placed her hand in his. _Yes, it’s me. Suspend your disbelief._

_You look beautiful._

_It’s the sari, the dress. My mum wore one just like it to her wedding and she looks so beautiful in all the photos,_ Anne thought wistfully. _Master Windu’s speaking._

Anakin tuned back into what was going on around them just in time to hear Master Windu tell him to say his vows. He cleared his throat. “Shmi Anne Sparks, I promise to always stay by your side, in the good times and the bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as the Force wills it.”

“Anakin Skywalker, I promise to always stay by your side, in the good times and the bad, in sickness and in health, for as long as the Force wills it.”

“Any person who has reason for these two not to be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Master Windu paused for a few seconds and every guest held their breath, not daring to make any movement that could be considered disagreement. “Anakin, do you take Anne to be your wedded wife?”

“I do.”

“Anne, do you take Anakin to be your wedded husband?”

“I do.”

“Then I pronounce you husband and wife,” he looked at Anakin. “You may kiss the bride.” The fabric hanging over Anne’s mechno-arm brushed against Anakin’s side as they leaned in for the kiss.

There was a flash of light and everyone turned to look at Barr’k, who blushed. Siri raised an eyebrow at him. “Sorry, Master. The pictures from your wedding would have come out better with flash.” Ahsoka rolled her eyes.

Padmé was the first to come forward to offer her congratulations in the form of hugging Anakin and Anne at the same time. She was followed by Dormé, and then the clones and the Jedi just had to join in. By the time the mobbing ended the newlyweds had gotten a few dozen hugs and Anakin had been slapped on the shoulder so many times that he was pretty sure that a bruise was forming.

Since they didn’t have the excuse of combining a “thank the Force the war is over” party with their wedding celebration, everyone eventually left after squeezing out as much time as possible talking to the couple. Soon only Padmé, Dormé, Captain Typho and the Lars’ were left.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding when I talked about grandchildren,” Cliegg told Anakin.

Shmi shook her head with a smile. “Really, Cliegg? They only just got married.” Padmé and Dormé laughed with her, while Anakin and Anne gave wavering smiles.

Of course, Shmi noticed. “Ani, what’s wrong?” She put a hand on her son’s arm only to have it slapped away.

“Nothing’s wrong!” Shmi stepped back and Anakin’s face drooped out of a snarl. “Sorry, Mom, I…I…” He covered his eyes with one hand. “Can we talk?”

* * *

Of course, Anne made tea. She even forced Captain Typho to take a cup, which was quite a feat considering that he usually didn’t drink tea. Anakin had dragged chairs out of Anne’s kitchen so that everyone had a place to sit and they gathered around the low table in the main living space.

“So,” Cliegg asked Anakin once everyone was settled. “Are you going to talk or do I have to ask the Captain here to give you a good thrashing for being so rude to your mother?”

Anakin sighed and launched into the story of the kidnapping by Sidious and the subsequent turning of Anne and himself to the Dark Side. He told them the basics of what had happened in a calm monotone that didn’t change no matter what reactions came from his audience. After he finished he sat staring at the floor, waiting for someone to say something.

“Oh, Ani.” Shmi stood up and gave her son a tentative hug. When he didn’t pull away or Force-push her across the room she hugged him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Anakin said.

“The worst part is, we’re having a baby,” Anne added.

Shmi, Cliegg, and Captain Typho blinked at her. It was a race, and Captain Typho ended up asking the question that they were all thinking. “How could that be a bad thing?”

“They could be born Dark.” All eyes turned to Dormé. She sipped her tea. “It has happened before.”

“It has?” Anakin asked. Dormé nodded. “You’re sure?”

“It’s in the Jedi Archives,” Dormé said.

Anne shook her head. “I’m not even going to ask how you got access to the Archives. Do you remember where you read this?”

“Of course I do. I’ll get you the volume numbers.”

“Thank you.”

Cliegg gulped down the last of his tea. “How the hell are you so calm?”

“Practice,” Anne and Dormé replied in unison.

“Who else knows?” Shmi asked.

“Ahsoka, Master Eerin.” Anakin thought for a moment. “And I think it’s safe to assume that Master Yoda knows too.”

Anne nodded. “It is practically impossible to hide anything from him.”

“Master Kenobi doesn’t know?” Shmi asked.

“He’s part of the Council,” Anakin told his mother sadly. “We don’t know what they would do. We are going to tell him soon. Eventually.”

“’So, what are you kids going to do?” Cliegg asked.

“Research.”

“And wait.”


	27. Chapter 27

“You should talk to Master Yoda.”Anakin and Anne looked over at Ahsoka, who was standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. “Let me rephrase that. You are going to talk to Master Yoda because I sent him a comm asking him to come here.”

“Ahsoka!”

“You’re working yourselves to death and you haven’t found anything.” She looked pointedly at the datapads scattered all over the room. “And keeping this from the Council? Bad idea. Consider this an intervention.”

Anne squeezed her eyes shut while Anakin sighed. They didn’t say anything, but the conflicting emotions bouncing around from all three of them kept them busy until the door buzzer sounded. “I’ll get it,” Ahsoka said quickly, darting back into the main room.

Anne put her head on Anakin’s shoulder. _Your Padawan has grown up._

_She is never going to listen to me again._

_As if. What about Snips for the baby’s name?_

_Too confusing._

With the Force presences of Master Yoda and (oh no) Obi-Wan condensing in the main room they had no excuse to stay put. Anakin waited while Anne stacked up a few datapads. After a few seconds she pushed them aside and gave herself a shake. _Let’s go face the cavalry._

“Knight Skywaker, called me, your apprentice did.” Yoda tilted his head. “An emergency it was, she said.”

Anakin managed not to glare at Ahsoka. “I’m sure she did, Master.”

“We’re worried about you, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said softly. “You’ve been very…distracted since the wedding. And Anne, no one has seen you since the Larses left.”

_Ahsoka was wrong, this_ is _an intervention._ Anne looked at each of the three Jedi facing them. “Why don’t we all sit down? You can have the chair, Master Yoda.” Anakin rolled his eyes as his wife told the Jedi Grand Master to take his favourite chair.

“Hmm. Fear, I sense,” Master Yoda said after looking at Anakin and Anne for a few seconds. “Fear for your children, you do.”

“Children?” Obi-Wan looked between Anakin and Anne. “Are you—? You’re not—?”

“Congratulations, grandpa,” Ahsoka said dryly.

Obi-Wan’s eyes jerked towards her. “You knew?” Ahsoka opened her mouth to say something but, after looking quickly at Master Yoda, nodded instead.

“No Darkness in the children, I sense,” Master Yoda mused, sounding completely off topic to anyone without context. “Come to me sooner, you should have. Children yourselves, you are.” He eased himself out of the chair. “Check for you again when they have grown, I will. A class now, I have.” The rest of them watched as the oldest Jedi in the Order left the room.

In the time it took for him to reach the door Anne’s face slowly shifted from relief to bewilderment. She looked down at her stomach, which was still flat under her tunic. “Did he say _children_?”

Anakin nodded, looking just as surprised as his wife.“Yes, yes he did.”

“You’re going to be parents,” Obi-Wan said slowly. “You’re going to be parents.”

Ahsoka looked at each of the three Humans, waiting for one of them to snap out of it.

“You’re going to be parents,” Obi-Wan said again, more firmly than he had before. “Do you need help getting things ready?”

“Some help would be nice, Obi-Wan,” Anne said shakily. “Especially since it seems we might have more than one baby to take care of.”

Anakin groaned. “Cliegg is going to be so…Cliegg.”

* * *

_Anakin, the baby kicked!_

Anakin jumped about a foot into the air. _Anne? But you’re at the Temple, how could you reach me?_

_I…I don’t know. I just really wanted to tell you._

_That’s great, Anne, but now’s not really the best time. I promise we’ll talk later when we’re not running for our lives._

_You found the ‘monster’?_

_Rex found it, and it isn’t happy. Love you._

_Love you too. Don’t die._

_Wasn’t planning on it._

Anne smiled and looked down at the curve of her stomach that showed clearly though her tunic. “Your daddy is very happy to be back at work. Very happy.” She went back to the information on her datapad and sighed. A family feud where people were dying. Seriously? What year was it? “I think Obi-Wan can have that one,” she muttered as she typed his name in to assign him the mission. The Negotiator really was the only Jedi to call in, and it would give him a chance to see how his new apprentice did in the field to. Hopefully Ri-Wan-Geam was good with a lightsaber.

“Good afternoon, Advisor.”

Anne looked up and smiled at the approaching Councillor. “Hello, Master Windu. How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you.” He sat down next to her under the tree. “You know, Advisor, after all these years working together, you could call me Mace.”

Anne looked around to see if anyone was within earshot before answering. “I’ve spent twenty-two years calling you either Master Windu or Mace Windu. I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.”

Master Windu chuckled. “True, old habits die hard. I do have something for you that I hope you won’t mind a bit for change for.” He unclipped something from his belt and held it out to her.

She blinked. “Is that…”

“Eha’s lightsaber. I did make a few changes though.” He drew his hand back and ignited the lightsaber. The light of the green blade reflected in his eyes as he looked at Anne meaningfully. When he deactivated the lightsaber and gave it to her she took it with a nod. “You may not be in the Order, Anne, but you are a Jedi. And every Jedi needs their lightsaber.”

“Thank you, Master Windu…Mace.” 

He smiled. “You’re welcome, Anne. I suppose I better let you get back to work.”

“Well, these missions aren’t going to assign themselves.” Mace got up and walked off while Anne turned back to her datapad. The next mission was a land dispute on Mon Cala. Gee, wonder who should get that one. “Nahdar Vebb,” Anne said as she typed. He was the only Mon Calamari who wasn’t busy. 


	28. Chapter 28

The second time his name was whispered Anakin woke up, though that probably had more to do with the accompanying shake. He rolled over drowsily. “What’s wrong, Anne?”

“The baby is coming.”

Anakin’s eyes shot open. “What! Right now?”

“No, not _right_ now, but now.” That answer wasn’t at all helpful. “For goodness sake, Anakin. Unless you want to help me give birth get dressed so we can go to the Healers’.”

“Yes, Anne.” Anakin rolled out of bed and pulled on his boots, not bothering to tuck his pants into them. Anne tossed him one of his tunics. She had already put on one of his robes over her nightgown.

Just as they were about to leave Anakin paused. “I’m forgetting something, aren’t I?”

“Yes, you are, Master.” Anakin didn’t have to turn around to know that Ahsoka was glaring at him, either with her arms crossed or with her hands on her hips. She wasn’t mad enough to be threatening him with her lightsaber. Yet. “What were you supposed to tell me?”

“When Anne was having the baby?”

“Correct.”

“…Anne’s having the baby.”

Anne laughed quietly and shook her head. Then she gasped. “This baby r _eally_ wants to be born.”

One hurried trip to the Healer’s Wing later and five minutes of Ahsoka pacing in the hallway, Anakin was holding their daughter in his arms. The Hero With No Fear was completely captivated by the tiny, wailing baby. He didn’t even hear his wife ask to see her until she snapped at him through their Force-bond.

_You know you did throw me into the wall, and with the women who are going to be in this girl’s life I have to get as much time with her as I can._

_You’re a bastard, Anakin Skywalker._ Anne let out a wordless yell before asking the Healers, “Is there another one?”

The Human and Twi’lek Jedi looked at each other. “Just one more,” the Human woman promised. Anne groaned quietly.

Their son was born without anyone else getting Force-pushed across the room. His sister had somehow managed to fall asleep, but when he started screaming at the top of his lungs she woke up and screamed with him. “It sounded like someone was being tortured,” Ahsoka said later. Then she winched. “Sorry!”

“It’s alright, Snips.” It wasn’t, but there had been enough yelling for one day.

Anakin looked down at his son, who was still screaming but with less enthusiasm than he had been an hour ago. If he could have he would have been looking at his sister with jealousy. She wasn’t making a sound as Anne fed her.

“Can I hold him?” Ahsoka asked tentatively. Anakin nodded and handed her the sniffling baby. He looked up at her with wonder and grabbed at the end of one of her head-tails. Once he’d captured his prize he did as babies were wont to do and stuck it in his mouth.

“Hey, Grabby, that’s mine.”Ahsoka smiled as he cooed at her.

Anakin sighed. “What did I tell you? I have no chance with either of them.”

Anne laughed at him. “No, she’s going to be a daddy’s girl, I can tell.”

Since Ahsoka couldn’t be persuaded to let go of her new friend until she absolutely needed to, Anakin ducked out to send a message to Obi-Wan, who was the only person they wanted to know about the babies right away who was on planet. By the time he arrived the twins were fast asleep in their parents’ arms. Ahsoka was asleep to, slumped in a chair, after being woken up in the middle of the night. Anne would have drifted off herself if she didn’t have a baby to support. 

“They’re adorable,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “Father, I don’t think you’ve ever used that word before.”

“I’ve never had a reason to before. What are their names?”

“Jade,” Anne said softly. “And John.”

“Jade and John Skywalker.” Obi-Wan looked at the two babies, whose glowing Force-presences were waiting to be shaped, and then at their parents, the Chosen One and the woman from another Galaxy. He could never have predicted that this would happen, ever. Mostly because before Zalmon and Eha were created none of the Order’s Jedi were having any luck seeing the future. For Jade and John though “The Force will be with them, always.”

* * *

The End


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